Refinement of an Emergency Department-Based, Advance Care Planning Intervention for Patients With Cognitive Impairment and Their Caregivers.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Advance care planning (ACP) conversations are important to provide goal-concordant care (i.e., the care that matches the patient's previously stated goals) near end of life. While 31% of older adults presenting to the emergency department (ED) have dementia, only 39% have previously had ACP conversations. We refined and piloted an ED-based, motivational interview designed to stimulate ACP conversations (ED GOAL) for patients living with cognitive impairment and their caregivers. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: We systematically refined ED GOAL and then conducted an acceptability study in an urban, academic medical center. We prospectively enrolled adults aged 50+ with cognitive impairment and their caregivers. Trained clinicians conducted the intervention. We measured acceptability after the intervention and participants' ACP engagement at baseline and 1-month follow-up. RESULTS: Specific statements to address both the patient and caregiver were added to the ED GOAL script. Of 60 eligible patient/caregiver dyads approached, 26 participated, and 20 (77%) completed follow-up assessments. Patient mean age was 79 years (SD 8.5); 65% were female, 92.3% were White, 96.2% were non-Hispanic, and 69% had moderate dementia. Most patients/caregivers reported feeling completely heard and understood by the study clinician about their future medical care preferences (58%, 15/26). They also reported that the study clinician was very respectful (96%, 25/26) when eliciting those preferences. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: Patients living with cognitive impairment and their caregivers found our refined ED GOAL acceptable and respectful. Future studies need to examine the effect of ED GOAL on ACP engagement among these dyads in the ED.

The differences in code status conversation approaches reported by emergency medicine and palliative care clinicians: A mixed-method study.

BACKGROUND: During acute health deterioration, emergency medicine and palliative care clinicians routinely discuss code status (e.g., shared decision making about mechanical ventilation) with seriously ill patients. Little is known about their approaches. We sought to elucidate how code status conversations are conducted by emergency medicine and palliative care clinicians and why their approaches are different. METHODS: We conducted a sequential-explanatory, mixed-method study in three large academic medical centers in the Northeastern United States. Attending physicians and advanced practice providers working in emergency medicine and palliative care were eligible. Among the survey respondents, we purposefully sampled the participants for follow-up interviews. We collected clinicians' self-reported approaches in code status conversations and their rationales. A survey with a 5-point Likert scale ("very unlikely" to "very likely") was used to assess the likelihood of asking about medical procedures (procedure based) and patients' values (value based) during code status conversations, followed by semistructured interviews. RESULTS: Among 272 clinicians approached, 206 completed the survey (a 76% response rate). The reported approaches differed greatly (e.g., 91% of palliative care clinicians reported asking about a patient's acceptable quality of life compared to 59% of emergency medicine clinicians). Of the 206 respondents, 118 (57%) agreed to subsequent interviews; our final number of semistructured interviews included seven emergency medicine clinicians and nine palliative care clinicians. The palliative care clinicians stated that the value-based questions offer insight into patients' goals, which is necessary for formulating a recommendation. In contrast, emergency medicine clinicians stated that while value-based questions are useful, they are vague and necessitate extended discussions, which are inappropriate during emergencies. CONCLUSIONS: Emergency medicine and palliative care clinicians reported conducting code status conversations differently. The rationales may be shaped by their clinical practices and experiences.

Stuttering associated with a pathogenic variant in the chaperone protein cyclophilin 40.

Stuttering is a common speech disorder that interrupts speech fluency and tends to cluster in families. Typically, stuttering is characterized by speech sounds, words or syllables which may be repeated or prolonged and speech that may be further interrupted by hesitations or 'blocks'. Rare variants in a small number of genes encoding lysosomal pathway proteins have been linked to stuttering. We studied a large four-generation family in which persistent stuttering was inherited in an autosomal dominant manner with disruption of the cortico-basal-ganglia-thalamo-cortical network found on imaging. Exome sequencing of three affected family members revealed the PPID c.808C>T (p.Pro270Ser) variant that segregated with stuttering in the family. We generated a Ppid p.Pro270Ser knock-in mouse model and performed ex vivo imaging to assess for brain changes. Diffusion-weighted MRI in the mouse revealed significant microstructural changes in the left corticospinal tract, as previously implicated in stuttering. Quantitative susceptibility mapping also detected changes in cortico-striatal-thalamo-cortical loop tissue composition, consistent with findings in affected family members. This is the first report to implicate a chaperone protein in the pathogenesis of stuttering. The humanized Ppid murine model recapitulates network findings observed in affected family members.

Improving serious illness communication: a qualitative study of clinical culture.

OBJECTIVE: Communication about patients' values, goals, and prognosis in serious illness (serious illness communication) is a cornerstone of person-centered care yet difficult to implement in practice. As part of Serious Illness Care Program implementation in five health systems, we studied the clinical culture-related factors that supported or impeded improvement in serious illness conversations. METHODS: Qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews of clinical leaders, implementation teams, and frontline champions. RESULTS: We completed 30 interviews across palliative care, oncology, primary care, and hospital medicine. Participants identified four culture-related domains that influenced serious illness communication improvement: (1) clinical paradigms; (2) interprofessional empowerment; (3) perceived conversation impact; (4) practice norms. Changes in clinicians' beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors in these domains supported values and goals conversations, including: shifting paradigms about serious illness communication from 'end-of-life planning' to 'knowing and honoring what matters most to patients;' improvements in psychological safety that empowered advanced practice clinicians, nurses and social workers to take expanded roles; experiencing benefits of earlier values and goals conversations; shifting from avoidant norms to integration norms in which earlier serious illness discussions became part of routine processes. Culture-related inhibitors included: beliefs that conversations are about dying or withdrawing care; attitudes that serious illness communication is the physician's job; discomfort managing emotions; lack of reliable processes. CONCLUSIONS: Aspects of clinical culture, such as paradigms about serious illness communication and inter-professional empowerment, are linked to successful adoption of serious illness communication. Further research is warranted to identify effective strategies to enhance clinical culture and drive clinician practice change.

A preliminary investigation of the mental health of parents of young children who stutter.

INTRODUCTION: While research has shown that parents of preschool-aged children who stutter (CWS) may be negatively affected by their child's stuttering, few studies have investigated their mental health. If parents of CWS have poor mental health, this may impact stuttering treatment choices, the conduct of treatment, stuttering treatment outcomes, and the development of stuttering treatments. METHODS: 82 parents (74 mothers and 8 fathers) of preschool-aged children who stutter (aged 1-5) were recruited upon application for an assessment for their child. A survey battery extracting quantitative and qualitative information about symptoms of potential depression, anxiety, stress, and psychological distress, as well as the emotional effect of stuttering on parents was administered and the results summarized. RESULTS: Data from standardised measures revealed similar incidence as normative data for the presence of stress, anxiety or depression (1 in 6 parents) and distress (almost 1 in 5 parents). However, more than half of the participants reported experiencing a negative emotional effect due to their child's stuttering and a large proportion also reported that stuttering influenced their communication with their child. CONCLUSIONS: Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) should broaden the scope of their duty of care to include the parents of CWS more fully. Parents should be provided with informational counselling or other support services that will help reduce worry and anxiety related to negative emotions.

A Pilot Study of the Serious Illness Conversation Guide in a Dialysis Clinic.

Clinician-led conversations about future care priorities occur infrequently with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients on dialysis. This was a pilot study of structured serious illness conversations using the Serious Illness Conversation Guide (SICG) in a single dialysis clinic to assess acceptability of the approach and explore conversation themes and potential outcomes among patients with ESRD. Twelve individuals with ESRD on dialysis from a single outpatient dialysis clinic participated in this study. Participants completed a baseline demographics survey, engaged in a clinician-led structured serious illness conversation, and completed an acceptability questionnaire. Conversations were recorded, transcribed and thematically analyzed. The average age of participants was 68.8 years. The conversations averaged 20:53 in length. Ten participants (83%) felt that the conversation was held at the right time in their clinical course and eleven participants (91%) felt that it was worthwhile. Most participants (73%) reported neutral feelings about clinician use of a printed guide. Eleven participants (91%) reported no change in anxiety about their illness following the conversation, and five participants (42%) reported that the conversation increased their hopefulness about future quality of life. Thematic analysis revealed common perspectives on dialysis including that participants view in-center hemodialysis as temporary, compartmentalize their kidney disease, perceive narrowed life experiences and opportunities, and believe dialysis is their only option. This pilot study suggests that clinician-led structured serious illness conversations may be acceptable to patients with ESRD on dialysis. The themes identified can inform future serious illness conversations with dialysis patients.

An emergency department nurse led intervention to facilitate serious illness conversations among seriously ill older adults: A feasibility study.

BACKGROUND: Serious illness conversations may lead to care consistent with patients' goals near the end of life. The emergency department could serve as an important time and location for these conversations. AIM: To determine the feasibility of an emergency department-based, brief motivational interview to stimulate serious illness conversations among seriously ill older adults by trained nurses. DESIGN: A pre-/post-intervention study. SETTINGS/PARTICIPANTS: In an urban, tertiary care, academic medical center and a community hospital from January 2021 to January 2022, we prospectively enrolled adults ⩾50 years of age with serious illness and an expected prognosis <1 year. We measured feasibility outcomes using the standardized framework for feasibility studies. In addition, we also collected the validated 4-item Advance Care Planning Engagement Survey (a 5-point Likert scale) at baseline and 4-week follow-up and reviewing the electronic medical record for documentation related to newly completed serious illness conversations. RESULTS: Among 116 eligible patients who were willing and able to participate, 76 enrolled (65% recruitment rate), and 68 completed the follow-up (91% retention rate). Mean patient age was 64.4 years (SD 8.4), 49% were female, and 58% had metastatic cancer. In all, 16 nurses conducted the intervention, and all participants completed the intervention with a median duration of 27 min. Self-reported Advance Care Planning Engagement increased from 2.78 pre to 3.31 post intervention (readiness to "talk to doctors about end-of-life wishes," p < 0.008). Documentation of health care proxy forms increased (62-70%) as did Medical Order for Life Sustaining Treatment (1-11%) during the 6 months after the emergency department visit. CONCLUSION: A novel, emergency department-based, nurse-led brief motivational interview to stimulate serious illness conversations is feasible and may improve advance care planning engagement and documentation in seriously ill older adults.

Communication Training and Code Status Conversation Patterns Reported by Emergency Clinicians.

CONTEXT: During acute health decompensations for seriously ill patients, emergency clinicians often determine the intensity end-of-life care. Little is known about how emergency clinicians conduct these conversations, especially among those who have received serious illness communication training. OBJECTIVES: To determine the self-reported practice patterns of code status conversations by emergency clinicians with and without serious illness communication training. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among emergency clinicians with and without a recent evidence-based, serious illness communication training tailored for emergency clinicians. Emergency clinicians were included from two academic medical centers. A five-point Likert scale ("very unlikely" to "very likely" to ask) was used to assess the self-reported likelihood of asking about patients' preferences for medical procedures and patients' values and goals. RESULTS: Among 161 respondents (71% response rate), 77 (48%) received the training. A total of 70% of emergency clinicians reported asking about procedure-based questions, and only 38% reported asking about patient's values regarding end-of-life care. For value-based questions, statistically significant differences were observed between emergency clinicians who underwent the training and those who did not in four of the seven questions asked (e.g., the higher odds of exploring the patient's life priorities [adjusted OR = 4.34, 95% CI = 1.95-9.65, P-value < 0.001]). No difference was observed in the self-reported rates of all procedure-based questions between the two groups. CONCLUSION: Most emergency clinicians reported asking about procedure-based questions, and some asked about patient's value-based questions. Clinicians with recent serious illness communication training may ask more about some values and priorities.

Acceptability of a Serious Illness Conversation Guide to Black Americans: Results from a focus group and oncology pilot study.

OBJECTIVES: Serious illness conversations (SICs) can improve the experience and well-being of patients with advanced cancer. A structured Serious Illness Conversation Guide (SICG) has been shown to improve oncology patient outcomes but was developed and tested in a predominantly White population. To help address disparities in advanced cancer care, we aimed to assess the acceptability of the SICG among African Americans with advanced cancer and their clinicians. METHODS: A two-phase study conducted in Charleston, SC, included focus groups to gather perspectives on the SICG in Black Americans and a single-arm pilot study of a revised SICG with surveys and qualitative exit interviews to evaluate patient and clinician perspectives. We used descriptive analysis of survey results and thematic analysis of qualitative data. RESULTS: Community-based and patient focus group participants (N = 20) reported that a simulated conversation using an adapted SICG built connection, promoted control, and fostered consideration of religious faith and family. Black patients with advanced cancer (N = 23) reported that SICG-guided conversations were acceptable, helpful, and promoted conversations with loved ones. Oncologists found conversations feasible to implement and skill-building, and also identified opportunities for training and implementation that could support meeting the needs of their patients with low health literacy. An adapted SICG includes language to assess the strength and affirm the clinician-patient relationship. SIGNIFICANCE OF RESULTS: An adapted structured communication tool to facilitate SIC, the SICG, appears acceptable to Black Americans with advanced cancer and seems feasible for use by oncology clinicians working with this population. Further testing in other marginalized populations may address disparities in advanced cancer care.

25 Years: Looking Back, Looking Forward.

Palliative medicine and the practice of palliative care has disseminated around the world for the past 25 years. In many countries, palliative medicine is a formally recognized specialty of medicine. Yet, there is a high variability, due in part to the variable resources devoted to its development. New research is needed to improve our ability to control symptoms and to know how best to implement the existing science so that the patients who need palliative care can get it easily and equitably. Achieving this level of access requires expertise in organizational structure and system change strategies. Building the evidence base for best practices requires us to forge research collaborations with collegues from all medical subspecialities, including experts from allied health disciplines, and partner closely with patients and families. It also compels us to look critically at ourselves to overcome the barriers we put in our own way to becoming a routine part of standard health care in all countries.

Emergency department-based, nurse-initiated, serious illness conversation intervention for older adults: a protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Visits to the emergency department (ED) are inflection points in patients' illness trajectories and are an underutilized setting to engage seriously ill patients in conversations about their goals of care. We developed an intervention (ED GOAL) that primes seriously ill patients to discuss their goals of care with their outpatient clinicians after leaving the ED. The aims of this study are (i) to test the impact of ED GOAL administered by trained nurses on self-reported, advance care planning (ACP) engagement after leaving the ED and (ii) to evaluate whether ED GOAL increases self-reported completion of serious illness conversation and other patient-centered outcomes. METHODS: This is a two-armed, parallel-design, single-blinded, randomized controlled trial of 120 seriously ill older adults in two academic and one community EDs in Boston, MA. Participants are English-speaking adults 50 years and older with a serious life-limiting illness with a recent ED visit. Patients with a valid MOLST (medical order for life-sustaining treatment) form or other documented goals of care within the last 3 months are excluded. We enroll the caregivers of patients with cognitive impairment. Patients are assigned to the intervention or control group using block randomization. A blinded research team member will perform outcome assessments. We will assess (i) changes in ACP engagement within 6 months and (ii) qualitative assessments of the effect of ED GOAL. DISCUSSION: In seriously ill older adults arriving in the ED, this randomized controlled trial will test the effects of ED GOAL on patients' self-reported ACP engagement, EMR documentation of new serious illness conversations, and improving patient-centered outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT05209880.

The Complexity of Stuttering Behavior in Adults and Adolescents: Relationship to Age, Severity, Mental Health, Impact of Stuttering, and Behavioral Treatment Outcome.

PURPOSE: This study investigated the complexity of stuttering behavior. It described and classified the complexity of stuttering behavior in relation to age, behavioral treatment outcomes, stuttering severity, anxiety-related mental health, impact of stuttering, and gender. METHOD: For this study, a taxonomy was developed-LBDL-C7-which was based on the Lidcombe Behavioral Data Language of stuttering. It was used by five experienced judges to analyze the complexity of stuttering behavior for 84 adults and adolescents before and after speech restructuring treatment. Data were 3,100 stuttering moments, which were analyzed with nominal logistic regression. RESULTS: The complexity of stuttering behavior appears not to change as a result of treatment, but it does appear to change with advancing age. Complexity of stuttering behavior was found to be independently associated with clinician stuttering severity scores but not with percentage of syllables stuttered or self-reported stuttering severity. Complexity of stuttering behavior was not associated with gender, anxiety, or impact of stuttering. CONCLUSION: Clinical and research applications of these findings are discussed.

Atypical development of Broca's area in a large family with inherited stuttering.

Developmental stuttering is a condition of speech dysfluency, characterized by pauses, blocks, prolongations and sound or syllable repetitions. It affects around 1% of the population, with potential detrimental effects on mental health and long-term employment. Accumulating evidence points to a genetic aetiology, yet gene-brain associations remain poorly understood due to a lack of MRI studies in affected families. Here we report the first neuroimaging study of developmental stuttering in a family with autosomal dominant inheritance of persistent stuttering. We studied a four-generation family, 16 family members were included in genotyping analysis. T1-weighted and diffusion-weighted MRI scans were conducted on seven family members (six male; aged 9-63 years) with two age and sex matched controls without stuttering (n = 14). Using Freesurfer, we analysed cortical morphology (cortical thickness, surface area and local gyrification index) and basal ganglia volumes. White matter integrity in key speech and language tracts (i.e. frontal aslant tract and arcuate fasciculus) was also analysed using MRtrix and probabilistic tractography. We identified a significant age by group interaction effect for cortical thickness in the left hemisphere pars opercularis (Broca's area). In affected family members this region failed to follow the typical trajectory of age-related thinning observed in controls. Surface area analysis revealed the middle frontal gyrus region was reduced bilaterally in the family (all cortical morphometry significance levels set at a vertex-wise threshold of P < 0.01, corrected for multiple comparisons). Both the left and right globus pallidus were larger in the family than in the control group (left P = 0.017; right P = 0.037), and a larger right globus pallidus was associated with more severe stuttering (rho = 0.86, P = 0.01). No white matter differences were identified. Genotyping identified novel loci on chromosomes 1 and 4 that map with the stuttering phenotype. Our findings denote disruption within the cortico-basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical network. The lack of typical development of these structures reflects the anatomical basis of the abnormal inhibitory control network between Broca's area and the striatum underpinning stuttering in these individuals. This is the first evidence of a neural phenotype in a family with an autosomal dominantly inherited stuttering.

Exploring the Psychological Aspects of Palliative Care: Lessons Learned from an Interdisciplinary Seminar of Experts.

Palliative care has been shown to help patients live well with serious illness, but the specific psychological factors that contribute to this benefit remain investigational. Although support of patient coping has emerged as a likely factor, it is unclear how palliative care helps patients to cope with serious illness. The therapeutic relationship has been proposed as a key element in beneficial patient outcomes, possibly undergirding effective patient and family coping. Understanding the distress of our patients with psychological depth requires the input of varied clinicians and thinkers. The complex conceptual model we developed draws upon the contributions of medicine, nursing, psychology, spiritual care, and social work disciplines. To elucidate these issues, we convened an interdisciplinary seminar of content experts to explore the psychological components of palliative care practice. "Healing Beyond the Cure: Exploring the Psychodynamic Aspects of Palliative Care" was held in May 2019 at Harvard University's Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Over two days, the working group explored these essential elements of successful palliative care encounters through lecture and open discussion. This special report describes the key psychological aspects of palliative care that we believe underlie optimal adaptive coping in palliative care patients. We also outline key areas for further development in palliative care research, education, and clinical practice. The discussion held at this meeting became the basis for a planned series of articles on the psychological elements of palliative care that will be published in the Journal of Palliative Medicine on a monthly basis during the fall and winter of 2021-2022.

Australian attitudes towards stuttering: A cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Negative reactions experienced by people who stutter often stem from unfounded attitudes and beliefs in the community. PURPOSE: There is a need to better understand current public attitudes towards stuttering in Australia. The purpose of this study was to: (a) explore the attitudes and knowledge of a large sample of the Australian public using the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attitudes-Stuttering [POSHA-S], (b) identify how the reported attitudes towards, and knowledge of, stuttering compare to existing data, and (c) identify differences between groups for variables identified. METHODS: A cross-sectional population study using the POSHA-S was conducted in Melbourne, Australia. Comparisons of the attitudes towards stuttering of this sample were made with data from other worldwide samples on the POSHA-S database. The influence on attitudes to stuttering of variables including age, gender, education level, country of birth, employment status and number of languages spoken was explored. RESULTS: The Overall Stuttering Score (OSS) of the Australian sample was higher than the median score on the POSHA-S database. This suggests that the Australian public holds more positive attitudes than those other countries represented in the database. Being younger, more educated, employed, female, monolingual, born in Australia and not familiar with people who stutter were related to more positive attitudes for this sample. Some negative stereotypes towards stuttering were noted; people who stutter were identified as 'shy and fearful', and 'nervous and excitable'. CONCLUSIONS: While the Australian public has generally positive attitudes towards stuttering, these attitudes still reflect some 'stuttering stereotypes'.

Contemporary issues with stuttering: The Fourth Croatia Stuttering Symposium.

PURPOSE: During the 2019 Fourth Croatia Clinical Symposium, speech-language pathologists (SLPs), scholars, and researchers from 29 countries discussed speech-language pathology and psychological practices for the management of early and persistent stuttering. This paper documents what those at the Symposium considered to be the key contemporary clinical issues for early and persistent stuttering. METHODS: The authors prepared a written record of the discussion of Symposium topics, taking care to ensure that the content of the Symposium was faithfully reproduced in written form. RESULTS: Seven contemporary issues for our field emerged from the Symposium. CONCLUSION: Effective early intervention is fundamental to proper health care for the disorder. However, as yet, there is no consensus about the timing of early intervention and how it should be managed. Currently, clinical translation is a barrier to evidence-based practice with early stuttering, and proactive strategies were suggested for junior SLPs. Apprehension emerged among some discussants that treatment of early stuttering may cause anxiety. For persistent stuttering, assessment procedures were recommended, as were strategies for dealing with childhood bullying. There was agreement that SLPs are the ideal professionals to provide basic cognitive-behavior therapy for clients with persistent stuttering. Questions were raised about our discipline standards for basic professional preparation programs for stuttering management.

Psychological characteristics of early stuttering.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to use psychological measures of pre-schoolers who stutter and their parents to inform causal theory development and influence clinical practices. This was done using data from a substantive clinical cohort of children who received early stuttering treatment. METHOD: The cohort (N = 427) comprised parents and their children who were treated with the Lidcombe Program, the Westmead Program, and the Oakville Program. The study incorporated demographic information, stuttering severity, and child and parent psychological measures prior to treatment. RESULT: The cohort revealed nothing unusual about behavioural and emotional functioning, or the temperaments, of pre-school children that would influence treatment, be targeted during treatment, or influence causal theory development. However, a third of parents were experiencing moderate to high life stressors at the time of seeking treatment, and half the parents failed first-stage screening for Anankastic Personality Disorder. CONCLUSION: The present results are consistent with a number of previous reports that showed that the population of pre-schoolers who stutter have no unusual psychological profiles. Hence, these results suggest that the association between mental health and stuttering later in life is a consequence of the disorder rather than being a part of its cause. The finding of the life stress of parents who seek stuttering treatment for pre-school children has potential clinical importance and warrants further investigation. Further psychological research is required about parents of pre-school children who stutter, because half the parents in the cohort failed the screener for Anankastic Personality Disorder. This is of interest because a previous study associated screening failure for another personality disorder (Impulsive Personality Disorder) with treatment dropout for early childhood stuttering.

Adherence and Concordance between Serious Illness Care Planning Conversations and Oncology Clinician Documentation among Patients with Advanced Cancer.

Background: Serious illness conversations are part of advance care planning (ACP) and focus on prognosis, values, and goals in patients who are seriously ill. To be maximally effective, such conversations must be documented accurately and be easily accessible. Objectives: The two coprimary objectives of the study were to assess concordance between written documentation and recorded audiotaped conversations, and to evaluate adherence to the Serious Illness Conversation Guide questions. Methods: Data were obtained as part of a trial in patients with advanced cancer. Clinicians were trained to use a guide to conduct and document serious illness conversations. Conversations were audiotaped. Two researchers independently compared audiorecordings with the corresponding documentation in an electronic health record (EHR) template and free-text progress notes, and rated the degree of concordance and adherence. Results: We reviewed a total of 25 audiorecordings. Clinicians addressed 87% of the conversation guide elements. Prognosis was discussed least frequently, only in 55% of the patients who wanted that information. Documentation was fully concordant with the conversation 43% of the time. Concordance was best when documenting family matters and goals, and least frequently concordant when documenting prognostic communication. Most conversations (64%) were documented in the template, a minority (28%) only in progress notes and two conversations (8%) were not documented. Concordance was better when the template was used (62% vs. 28%). Conclusion: Clinicians adhered well to the conversation guide. However, key information elicited was documented and fully concordant less than half the time. Greater concordance was observed when clinicians used a prespecified template. The combined use of a guide and EHR template holds promise for ACP conversations.

Feasibility of a Brief Intervention to Facilitate Advance Care Planning Conversations for Patients with Life-Limiting Illness in the Emergency Department.

Background: Advance care planning (ACP) conversations are an important intervention to provide care consistent with patient goals near the end of life. The emergency department (ED) could serve as an important time and location for these conversations. Objectives: To determine the feasibility of an ED-based, brief negotiated interview (BNI) to stimulate ACP conversations among seriously ill older adults. Methods: We conducted a pre/postintervention study in the ED of an urban, tertiary care, academic medical center. From November 2017 to May 2019, we prospectively enrolled adults ≥65 years of age with serious illness. Trained clinicians conducted the intervention. We measured patients' ACP engagement at baseline and follow-up (3 ± 1 weeks) and reviewed electronic medical record documentation of ACP (e.g., medical order for life-sustaining treatment [MOLST]). Results: We enrolled 51 patients (mean age = 71; SD 12), 41% were female, and 51% of patients had metastatic cancer. Median duration of the intervention was 11.8 minutes; few (6%) of the interventions were interrupted. We completed follow-up for 61% of participants. Patients' self-reported ACP engagement increased from 3.0 to 3.7 out of 5 after the intervention (p < 0.01). Electronic documentation of health care proxy forms increased (75%-94%, n = 48) as did MOLST (0%-19%, n = 48) during the six months after the ED visit. Conclusion: A novel, ED-based, BNI intervention to stimulate ACP conversations for seriously ill older adults is feasible and may improve ACP engagement and documentation.