The role of specialty palliative care interdisciplinary team members in acute care decision support: a qualitative study protocol.

BACKGROUND: Specialty palliative care interdisciplinary teams (IDT) can play an important role in supporting patients and family members during acute care decision-making. Despite guidelines and evidence emphasizing decision-making support as a key domain of specialty palliative care, little is known about how decision-making support is actually implemented by specialty palliative care IDTs. This study aims to (1) describe the structure and processes of inpatient decision-making support delivered by specialty palliative care IDT, and (2) examine the perspectives of IDT members on their role in this decision-support. METHODS: A team of clinician and non-clinician researchers will conduct non-participant observation ethnography at a single medical center in northern New England. The ethnography will focus on the work of IDT members in supporting decision making, particularly elements of specialty palliative care that have limited descriptions in the literature (e.g. systems and processes of care). Observations of formal and informal interactions between IDT members and clinical encounters will be conducted at one site over four months. Participants include patients, care partners, non-specialty palliative care providers, and specialty palliative care IDT members. Additionally, we will conduct semi-structured interviews with IDT members across three geographically diverse specialty palliative care teams across the United States to explore providers' first-person perspective on their roles and function in decision-making support for hospitalized patients. Field notes and transcripts from observation and interviews will be uploaded to Dedoose software for management and thematic analysis following an inductive approach. DISCUSSION: To our knowledge, this will be the first observational study of the roles of interdisciplinary specialty palliative care teams. Results from this research will support further investigation into implementation of decision-making support across different types of medical teams.

Association Between Opening a Palliative Care Unit and Hospital Care for Patients With Serious Illness.

Background: Palliative care units (PCUs) are devoted to intensive management of symptoms and other palliative care needs. We examined the association between opening a PCU and acute care processes at a single U.S. academic medical center. Methods: We retrospectively compared acute care processes for seriously ill patients admitted before and after the opening of a PCU at a single academic medical center. Outcomes included rates of change in code status to do-not-resuscitate (DNR) and comfort measures only (CMO) status, and time to DNR and CMO. We calculated unadjusted and adjusted rates and used logistic regression to assess interaction between care period and palliative care consultation. Results: There were 16,611 patients in the pre-PCU period and 18,305 patients in the post-PCU period. The post-PCU cohort was slightly older, with a higher Charlson index (p < 0.001 for both). Post-PCU, unadjusted rates of DNR and CMO increased from 16.4% to 18.3% (p < 0.001) and 9.3% to 11.5% (p < 0.001), respectively. Post-PCU, median time to DNR was unchanged (0 days), and time to CMO decreased from 6 to 5 days. The adjusted odds ratio was 1.08 (p = 0.01) for DNR and 1.19 (p < 0.001) for CMO. Significant interaction between care period and palliative care consultation for DNR (p = 0.04) and CMO (p = 0.01) suggests an important role for palliative care engagement. Conclusions: The opening of a PCU at a single center was associated with increased rates of DNR and CMO status for seriously ill patients.

Development of an Abstraction Tool to Assess Palliative Care Components.

Background: Little is known regarding the fidelity of delivery of guideline-recommended components of palliative care in "real world" encounters. Objective: To develop a qualitative coding framework to identify components of clinical palliative care in clinical documentation across care settings. Design: Retrospective review of palliative care clinical documentation from medical providers, with directed qualitative content analysis to identify components of clinical care documented. Setting/Subjects: Purposively sampled deceased patients seen by palliative care at a US academic medical center between 7/1/2011-7/1/2018. Main Outcomes and Measures: The outcome of this work is a coding framework for use in future research. We assessed the robustness of the framework using Cohen's kappa. Results: We reviewed sixty-two encounters from twenty-six patients. We identified 7 major themes in documentation: (1) addressing physical symptoms, (2) addressing psychological symptoms, (3) establishing illness understanding, (4) supporting decision making, (5) end-of-life planning, (6) understanding psychosocial context, and (7) care coordination. Interrater reliability varied widely between components, with Cohen's kappa ranging from -.51 to 1. Conclusions: This pilot study provides a coding framework to measure documentation of clinical palliative care components. Several components could not be reliably identified using this framework, suggesting the need for additional measurement strategies.

Acceptability and Impact of a Required Palliative Care Rotation with Prerotation and Postrotation Observed Simulated Clinical Experience during Internal Medicine Residency Training on Primary Palliative Communication Skills.

BACKGROUND: Improving communication training for primary palliative care using a required palliative care rotation for internal medicine (IM) residents has not been assessed. OBJECTIVE: To assess skills acquisition and acceptability for IM residents not selecting an elective. DESIGN: A consecutive, single-arm cohort underwent preobjective structured clinical examination (OSCE) with learner-centric feedback, two weeks of clinical experience, and finally a post-OSCE to crystallize learner-centric take home points. SETTING/SUBJECTS: IM second year residents from Dartmouth-Hitchcock were exposed to a required experiential palliative care rotation. MEASUREMENTS: Pre- and post-OSCE using a standardized score card for behavioral skills, including patient-centered interviewing, discussing goals of care/code status, and responding to emotion, as well as a confidential mixed qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the experience. RESULTS: Twelve residents were included in the educational program (two were excluded because of shortened experiences) and showed statistically significant improvements in overall communication and more specifically in discussing code status and responding to emotions. General patient-centered interviewing skills were not significantly improved, but prerotation scores reflected pre-existing competency in this domain. Residents viewed the observed simulated clinical experience (OSCE) and required rotation as positive experiences, but wished for more opportunities to practice communication skills in real clinical encounters. CONCLUSIONS: A required palliative care experiential rotation flanked by OSCEs at our institution improved the acquisition of primary palliative care communication skills similarly to other nonclinical educational platforms, but may better meet the needs of the resident and faculty as well as address all required ACGME milestones.

Palliative care consultations for heart failure patients: how many, when, and why?

OBJECTIVE: In preparation for development of a palliative care intervention for patients with heart failure (HF) and their caregivers, we aimed to characterize the HF population receiving palliative care consultations (PCCs). METHODS AND RESULTS: Reviewing charts from January 2006 to April 2011, we analyzed HF patient data including demographic and clinical characteristics, Seattle Heart Failure scores, and PCCs. Using Atlas qualitative software, we conducted a content analysis of PCC notes to characterize palliative care assessment and treatment recommendations. There were 132 HF patients with PCCs, of which 37% were New York Heart Association functional class III and 50% functional class IV. Retrospectively computed Seattle Heart Failure scores predicted 1-year mortality of 29% [interquartile range (IQR) 19-45] and median life expectancy of 2.8 years [IQR 1.6-4.2] years. Of the 132 HF patients, 115 (87%) had died by the time of the audit. In that cohort the actual median time from PCC to death was 21 [IQR 3-125] days. Reasons documented for PCCs included goals of care (80%), decision making (24%), hospice referral/discussion (24%), and symptom management (8%). CONCLUSIONS: Despite recommendations, PCCs are not being initiated until the last month of life. Earlier referral for PCC may allow for integration of a broader array of palliative care services.