Test the acceptability and feasibility of a brief motivational interview intervention to facilitate advance care planning (ACP) conversations for older adults with serious co-morbid illness being discharged from the emergency department (ED). The investigators will interview the participants to understand their perception of the intervention and collect patient-reported outcomes data after leaving the ED.
This study is designed to engage seriously ill older adults in conversations about their goals of care. Our intervention is intended to help these patients understand the significance of ED visits in the course of their illnesses.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NA
Purpose
HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
75
A brief (\<7minutes) interview by an emergency department clinician to empower patients to formulate and communicate their goals for medical care with patients' outpatient clinicians.
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Number of Patients Who Found the Intervention Acceptable and Provided Suggestions for Improvement
The investigator will measure quantitatively and qualitatively whether patients found this intervention acceptable and provided suggestions for its improvement.
Time frame: Immediately following the intervention in the emergency department.
Acceptability of the Intervention by Administering Clinicians.
The investigators will ask the emergency department clinicians who administered the intervention to report the intervention acceptability using a Likert scale survey.
Time frame: Immediately following the intervention in the emergency department.
Patient's Quality of Life
The investigators will measure patient's quality of life using a validated survey measure (Quality of life at the end of life, QUAL-E, Steinhauser et al. 2004) at baseline and after the intervention. QUAL-E consists of 25-items and measures 4 domains (symptom impact, relationship with the healthcare provider, preparation for the end of life, and life completion). Each item is in a 5-point Likert scale ranging from (1 Not at all to 5 Completely), and lower scores indicate better outcomes for all domains except for the preparation for the end of life domain and life completion domain where higher scores indicate better outcomes. The mean composite score is compared between baseline and 1 month after the intervention.
Time frame: At baseline (in-person) and 1 month after (over the phone) the intervention.
Advance Care Planning Engagement Behavior
The investigators will measure patient's behaviors and actions for completing advance care planning using a validated survey measure (advance care planning engagement survey, Sudore et al 2017) at baseline and after the intervention. The measure is a 4-item survey measuring actions and behaviors of advance care planning. The additive composite score is calculated and ranges from 1 (least engagement) to 5 (most engagement).
Time frame: At baseline (in-person) and 1 month after (over the phone) the intervention.
Patient Empowerment
The investigators will measure patient empowerment by using a validated survey measure (Patient Activation Measure, PAM™) at baseline and after the intervention.
Time frame: At baseline (in-person) and 1 month after (over the phone) the intervention.
Patient Distress
The investigators will measure patient anxiety/distress regarding a particular event (in this case, our intervention) by using a validated survey measure (Impact of Event Scale - Revised, IES-R, Weiss 1996) within a week after the intervention. IES-R is a 22-item, 5-point Likert scale measure (ranging from 0 Not at all to 4 Extremely). Results consist of the mean rating for the total score and raw scores for three subscales: The Avoidance Scale, Intrusion Scale, and the Hyperarousal Scale. The scores give an indication of the level of impairment from post traumatic stress, where: 0 = No symptoms 1 = Few symptoms 2 = Moderate symptoms 3 = A High level of symptoms 4 = An Extremely high level of symptoms
Time frame: Within 7 days after the intervention.
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