Comparative Trial of Home-Based Palliative Care
Background: To effectively alleviate suffering and improve quality of life for patients with serious illness and their caregivers, palliative care (PC) services must be offered across multiple settings. Research is needed to determine how best to optimize home-based palliative care (HBPC) services to meet the needs of individuals with high symptom burden and functional limitations. Aim: The investigators will compare a standard HBPC model that includes routine home visits by a nurse and provider with a more efficient tech-supported HBPC model that promotes timely inter-professional team coordination via synchronous video consultation with the provider while the nurse is in the patient's home. The investigators hypothesize that tech-supported HBPC will be as effective as standard HBPC. Design: Cluster randomized trial. Registered nurses (n\~130) will be randomly assigned to the tech-supported or standard HBPC model so that half of the patient-caregiver dyads will receive one of the two models. Setting/Participants: Kaiser Permanente (15 Southern California and Oregon sites). Patients (n=10,000) with any serious illness and a prognosis of 1-2 years and their caregivers (n=4,800) Methods: Patients and caregivers will receive standard PC services: comprehensive needs assessment and care planning, pain and symptom management, education/skills training, medication management, emotional/spiritual support; care coordination, referral to other services, and 24/7 phone assistance. Results: Primary patient outcomes: symptom improvement at 1 month and days spent at home in the last six months of life; caregiver outcome: perception of preparedness for caregiving. Conclusion: Should the more efficient tech-supported HBPC model achieves comparable improvements in outcomes that matter most to patients and caregivers, this would have a lasting impact on PC practice and policy.
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Checked against the public recordLast updated Feb 20, 2020 · Source: ClinicalTrials.gov
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Interventional
Locations may change over time.
Study sponsor
What this study is about
- Purpose
- Supportive Care
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Not applicable
- Sponsor
- Kaiser Permanente
- Interventions being studied
- Other: Tech-supported HBPC; Other: Standard HBPC
How this study is categorized
These labels come from structured fields and exact terms in the public record.
Who may be able to participate
The sponsor separates these requirements into two groups. You do not need to interpret them alone—use them to guide a conversation with the study team.
- Patient
- Serious illness with 12-24 month life expectancy
- Homebound
- Need for skilled nursing care (only at KP Southern California)
- English or Spanish speakers Patient
- \- Currently receiving HBPC Caregiver Inclusion Criteria:
- Non-professional family, friend or other caregiver
- English or Spanish speakers
Important: This is the sponsor’s public criteria, not a determination of eligibility. The study team must review your individual situation.
U.S. locations
- Kaiser Permanente Southern CaliforniaPasadena, California
- Kaiser Permanente NorthwestPortland, Oregon
Source and freshness
Processed from ClinicalTrials.gov. Last public update: Feb 20, 2020. Always confirm current availability with the study team.