Collaborative Integration of Palliative Care in Critically Ill Stroke Patients in the Neurocritical Care Unit: A Single Center Pilot Study.

INTRODUCTION: Patients admitted to the Neurocritical Care Unit (NCCU) with moderate-to-severe acute strokes, along with their surrogate decision makers, have the potential for unrecognized or unmet emotional and psychological needs. Our primary objective was to determine if early integration of palliative care consultations within this cohort was feasible and would impact understanding, decision-making and emotional support to patients and their surrogate decision makers. Our secondary objective was to evaluate the long-term impact of early palliative care assessment on the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). METHODS: This was a single center prospective pilot study. Patients with moderate-to-severe ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes were randomized into two arms. The control arm received standard intensive care and the intervention arm received an additional early palliative care consultation within 72 hours of hospitalization. Study assessments with the participants were obtained on day 1-3, and day 5-7 of care with comparisons of total scores on the Questionnaire on Communication (QOC), Decisional Conflict Scale (DCS), and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Furthermore, comparisons of HADS and PTSD DSM-5 (PCL- 5) scores were completed at 3 months. Linear mixed effects models were conducted to examine the association between intervention and participant's scores. RESULTS: A total of 22 participants were enrolled between February 2019 and April 2020. Statistically significant improvement in scores was seen in the total HADS score (p=0.043) and PCL5 score (p=0.033) at 3 months following intervention. CONCLUSION: Collaboration between the intensive care and palliative care team with early palliative assessment may be beneficial in lowering anxiety, depression and PTSD symptoms in critically ill stroke patients and their caregivers. Further research is needed to validate these findings.

Training to Promote Empathic Communication in Graduate Medical Education: A Shared Learning Intervention in Internal Medicine and General Surgery.

Background: Empathic communication skills have a growing presence in graduate medical education to empower trainees in serious illness communication. Objective: Evaluate the impact, feasibility, and acceptability of a shared communication training intervention for residents of different specialties. Design: A randomized controlled study of standard education v. our empathic communication skills-building intervention: VitalTalk-powered workshop and formative bedside feedback using a validated observable behavioral checklist. Setting/Subjects: During the 2018-2019 academic year, our intervention was implemented at a large single-academic medical center in the United States involving 149 internal medicine and general surgery residents. Measurements: Impact outcomes included observable communication skills measured in standardized patient encounters (SPEs), and self-reported communication confidence and burnout collected by surveys. Analyses included descriptive and inferential statistics, including independent and paired t tests and multiple regression model to predict post-SPE performance. Results: Of residents randomized to the intervention, 96% (n = 71/74) completed the VitalTalk-powered workshop and 42% (n = 30/71) of those residents completed the formative bedside feedback. The intervention demonstrated a 33% increase of observable behaviors (p < 0.001) with improvement in all eight skill categories, compared with the control who only showed improvement in five. Intervention residents demonstrated improved confidence in performing all elicited communication skills such as express empathy, elicit values, and manage uncertainty (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Our educational intervention increased residents' confidence and use of essential communication skills. Facilitating a VitalTalk-powered workshop for medical and surgical specialties was feasible and offered a shared learning experience for trainees to benefit from expert palliative care learning outside their field.

Top Ten Tips Palliative Care Clinicians Should Know About Medical Decision-Making Capacity Assessment.

Palliative care (PC) clinicians treat seriously ill patients who are at increased risk for compromised decision-making capacity (DMC). These patients face profound and complex questions about which treatments to accept and which to decline. PC clinicians, therefore, have the especially difficult task of performing thorough, fair, and accurate DMC assessments in the face of the complex effects of terminal illness, which may be complicated by fluctuating acute medical conditions, mental illness, or cognitive dysfunction. This study, written by a team of clinicians with expertise in PC, ethics, psychiatry, pediatrics, and geriatrics, aims to provide expert guidance to PC clinicians on best practice for complex DMC assessment.