The goal of this clinical trial is to evaluate whether early integration of palliative care in the care of hospitalized patients with advanced liver disease (AdvLD) can improve patients' quality of life, physical symptoms, mood, and serious illness communication. Palliative care is a medical specialty focused on lessening (or "palliating") symptoms and assisting in coping with serious illness.
The main purpose of this study is to compare two types of care - usual hepatology care and usual hepatology care with early involvement of palliative care clinicians to see which is better for improving the experience of hospitalized patients with advanced liver disease (AdvLD). The investigators aim to find out whether introducing hospitalized patients with AdvLD to the palliative care team that specializes in symptom management can improve the quality of life and physical and psychological symptoms that patients and families experience during their hospitalizations as well as enhance the quality of patients' end of life care.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
SUPPORTIVE_CARE
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
200
The intervention include integrating early palliative care with usual hepatology care to evaluate and treat patients' symptoms, enhance their illness and prognostic understanding, support their coping, and coordinate their serious illness, transitional, and end-of-life care.
Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
RECRUITINGPatient Quality of Life (Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy - Palliative Care, FACIT-Pal) up t0 4 weeks
Compare patient quality of life (FACIT-Pal) scores up to 4 weeks adjusting for baseline quality of life scores between the study arms. Score range 0-184 with higher scores indicating better quality of life.
Time frame: Up to 4 weeks
Patient FACIT-Pal Score longitudinally between study arms
Compare patient quality of life (FACIT-Pal) scores longitudinally between the study arms. Score range 0-184 with higher scores indicating better quality of life.
Time frame: Up to 6 months
Patient Symptom Burden (revised Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale, ESAS-r)
Compare patient symptom burden scores (ESAS-r) between the study arms. Score range 0-100 with higher scores indicating higher symptom burden.
Time frame: Up to 6 months
Patient Depression Symptoms (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, HADS-D)
Compare patient depression symptoms (HADS-D) between the study arms. Score range 0-21 with higher scores indicating higher depression symptoms.
Time frame: Up to 6 months
Patient Anxiety Symptoms (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, HADS-A)
Compare patient anxiety symptoms (HADS-A) between study arms. Score range 0-21 with higher scores indicating higher anxiety symptoms.
Time frame: Up to 6 months
Patient End-of-Life (EOL) Care Communication with Clinicians
"Has \[participant\] talked with \[participant's\] doctor about the kind of medical care \[participant\] would want if \[participant\] were very sick or near the end of life?"
Time frame: Final assessment prior to patient death or at 6 months
Documentation of Patient End-of-Life (EOL) Care Preferences
Compare documentation of EOL care preferences in the electronic health record between study arms since baseline.
Time frame: After patient death, up to 60 months
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