Palliative Care For Me (PCforMe)

Duke University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Palliative Care

Treatments: Behavioral: Access to PCforMe for review; Behavioral: Access to three nationally-recognized Palliative Care websites for review

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03874195

Pro00075906

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to test the usability of PCforMe, a web-based preparation and engagement tool about palliative care, during a pre-visit pilot trial in outpatient palliative care at the Duke Cancer Institute Palliative Care Clinic.

Full description

The Investigator will 1:1 randomize patients to an Active Control arm or Intervention arm. Both arms will receive a tablet computer (iPad or Galaxy Tab based on preference) connected to the internet with disposable headphones to use for up to 30 minutes. Subjects in the Active Control arm will receive a list of three nationally-recognized websites to receive information on palliative care - www.palliativedoctors.org; getpalliativecare.org; and Wikipedia "Palliative Care" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palliative_care). Intervention Arm subjects will receive access to PCforMe.

PCforMe is an online, web-based, interactive tool to prepare patients for a clinical palliative care encounter. PCforMe is accessible through www.pcforme.org. It does not collect any patient information, including identifiers (e.g. name, email address, disease, location) or health information (e.g. disease, symptom severity or location). The system uses a combination of animated videos and user-answered questions to generate a "Palliative Care Passport", which is a summary of information entered into the system. Research staff will print out the Passport for patients and hand it to them prior to the appointment.

Queries for users include standard-of-care questions asked by palliative care clinicians, including areas that patients want to more learn about. No diagnoses, medication advice, or clinical assessments are made or given.

Enrollment: 80 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Potential participants will be identified by reviewing clinic appointment listings in EPIC (e.g., diagnosis, date of diagnosis, date of clinic appointment, physician), and deemed eligible by the RA by meeting the following criteria:

  • Age >18
  • capacity to give consent
  • has a scheduled outpatient visit (initial consult) with a palliative care provider
  • ability to speak and understand English

Exclusion criteria

• Not meeting the inclusion requirements

Trial design

Primary purpose: Supportive Care

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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80 participants in 2 patient groups

Control

Active Comparator group

Description:

Subjects in the Active Control arm will receive a list of three nationally-recognized websites to receive information on palliative care - www.palliativedoctors.org; getpalliativecare.org; and Wikipedia "Palliative Care" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palliative care).

Treatment:

Behavioral: Access to three nationally-recognized Palliative Care websites for review

Intervention

Experimental group

Description:

Intervention Arm subjects will receive access to PCforMe.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Access to PCforMe for review