Close to one-third of Medicare decedents use the Medicare skilled nursing facility (SNF) benefit in the 6 months prior to death. SNF care often increases the risk for more aggressive, potentially burdensome treatments and unrecognized or undertreated symptoms. Palliative care is goal-directed, patient and family-centered care that focuses on a wide range of physical, psychosocial, and spiritual needs for persons with serious, life-limiting illnesses. Effective palliative care relieves suffering, enhances communication, and improves end-of-life care and decision making for seriously ill older adults. Despite its association with improved quality of care, higher satisfaction, and better symptom management at the end of life, palliative care is not widely available to Medicare patients in the Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) setting. Palliative care consultation (PCC) is one approach that can potentially improve care for older adults with advanced illness in SNFs. This pilot study will test an evidence-based palliative care consult intervention for older adult SNF patients in nursing homes by comparing the patient/family caregiver reported quality of life in two participant groups: one receiving a PCC and the other receiving standard care.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Purpose
SUPPORTIVE_CARE
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
45
Trained provider will discuss illness trajectories, establish and communicate patient-directed goals that guide health care decisions, identify and treat illness-related symptoms, and identify psycho-spiritual needs and approaches to mitigate suffering.
Acts Continuing Care Retirement Communities
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Number of Participants Who Completed Patient Quality of Life Surveys
The Patient Outcome Survey (POS) 10 item Survey that measures quality of life in five dimensions: 1) physical; 2) emotional; 3) psychological; 4) spiritual needs, and 5) provision of information and support. Items scored on a 5 point Likert Scale (0=not at all, 4= overwhelmingly) based on symptom/need in the past week. Overall profile score is calculated by summing responses (range 0-40). Higher values represent a worse outcome.
Time frame: Collected upon admission to the nursing home and enrollment and again 15-21 days after enrollment in the study (control group) or intervention received (intervention group).
Number of Participants Who Completed the Consult Satisfaction Survey (CSQ)
Measured using the Consultation Satisfaction Questionnaire (CSQ). The CSQ is an 18 item patient/caregiver-reported instrument that measures communication and satisfaction of a consult in four domains: 1) general satisfaction, 2) professional care, 3) depth of relationship, 4) perceived length of consultation.(scale format: 5-point Likert Scale (0= strongly disagree, 4=strongly agree).Overall score is calculated by summing responses (range 0-72). Higher values represent a worse outcome.
Time frame: Collected within 15-21days of palliative care consultation for the intervention group.
Adherence to SNF-PCC Recommendations
Adherence Protocol. Medical record review and/or phone interview with patient/caregiver We will determine a recommendation adherence score after each participants' SNF-PCC. Each recommendation will be assigned 2 points, then we will define full (2 points), partial (1 point) and no adherence (0 point) to each recommendation. We will sum the points for each SNF-PCC recommendation and use this as the denominator. We will sum each recommendation with full, partial, no adherence and use this as the numerator. The fraction will be converted to a percentage ranging from 0-100% reflecting the recommendation adherence score.
Time frame: 30 Days post-admission
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