Glasgow Supported Self Management Trial (GSuST)

NHS Trust

Status: Unknown

Conditions: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Treatments: Behavioral: Supported self management training and support

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT00706303

CZH/4/246

Details and patient eligibility

About

Training patients to alter their own therapy early in the course of a developing exacerbation (self-management) has been shown to improve outcomes in asthma, but there is no good evidence on this for patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Case management, with patients having an identified contact who helps them access care when necessary, has been shown to improve outcomes in recent studies. A combined approach, called supported selfmanagement, may be particularly suitable for this socially and often educationally disadvantaged group of patients.We propose to identify 500 patients at the time of an exacerbation to test this combined strategy in a randomised manner. The primary outcome measure will be readmission to hospital or death due to COPD, important in terms of patient preferences, quality of life and health costs. This will provide important information about intermediate care for COPD patients which should influence service provision within the NHS in Scotland

Full description

There have been no randomised controlled trials from UK settings reporting either the effect or the costs of an intensive, individualised case- and self-management intervention for patients with COPD. Given new evidence from other countries (discussed above), we propose that a combined case- and self-management (henceforth referred to as "supported self-management") intervention is most likely to produce measurable benefits from this socially and physically disadvantaged group of patients. Supported self-management involves:

1. Individualised self-management education, delivered in the patient's own home at fortnightly intervals over a two-month period with monthly telephone follow-up. This component of the intervention is based on an intervention shown to be effective in Canada. It is based on the principle of empowering patients to manage their COPD themselves more effectively by improving disease understanding and symptom monitoring, and improving patients' confidence to carry out appropriate action, such as altering therapy early on in the evolution of an exacerbation or initiating contact with a named professional for telephone advice, a home visit or further hospital care (case management) as and when required. We believe home visits are critical to the success of this intervention as this group of breathless and disabled patients often default from clinics and rehabilitation attendance on account of exacerbations or breathlessness.
2. To maintain the impact of self-management training, a named nurse will visit the patient at (a maximum interval of) six-weeks to reinforce self-management messages; this nurse will also be contactable by the patient, as required, prompting an earlier home visit, or GP or hospital attendance as appropriate.

This supported self-management approach (intervention group) will be compared with standard care (control group).

Aim: To address, via a prospective randomised controlled trial in Glasgow, whether supported self-management, in addition to usual care, in patients with moderate to severe COPD has a measurable benefit on patient morbidity and mortality compared to usual care.

Enrollment: 500 estimated patients

Sex: All

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• COPD
• recent hospital admission with exacerbation
• normal cognitive function (MMSE of 9 or 10)

Exclusion criteria

• asthma
• LVF
• malignancy

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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500 participants in 2 patient groups

1 Intervention group

Active Comparator group

Description:

Supported Self-management. This will consist of fortnightly individual patient sessions at home of approximately 40 minutes for two months, with home visits at a maximum frequency of 6 weeks thereafter for 1 year. Follow up visits will be less structured, and based on the patient's individual agenda as well as reviewing and reinforcing basic self-management messages. Patients will be provided with an individualised self-management plan and symptom diary cards to use as a monitoring aid. Patients will be trained to identify and treat exacerbations associated with purulent sputum with antibiotic and those associated with increased breathlessness, mucoid sputum and/or upper airway symptoms with Prednisolone.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Supported self management training and support

2

No Intervention group

Description:

Usual care. The control group will receive usual care, as decided by their GP and or hospital consultant, and the patient themselves (e.g., NHS 24 helpline). They will be asked to complete diary cards and receive telephone follow up calls as an attention control, similar to the intervention group.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Supported self management training and support