A Study to Tailor Advance Directives

September 4, 2013 updated by: University of Chicago
In this study, hospitalized patients will first be surveyed regarding their interest in a traditional advanced directive (AD) and then in a modified AD.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The purpose of this study is to assess whether patients will execute an advance directive which offers a limited trial of life-sustaining therapy in non-terminal illness, declines life-sustaining therapy or artificial nutrition in advanced dementia, or declines life-sustaining therapy in general. Advance directives (ADs) as currently drafted have been questioned since they have not had much effect on end-of-life care. However, the reason for the lack of success may be simply that they rarely apply. Traditional ADs, which are limited to terminal illness or persistent vegetative states, are difficult to apply to the more common cases of critical illness in the setting of potentially reversible disease and advanced dementia, which are often not recognized as terminal. In addition, terminal ADs are drafted too narrowly for patients who do not wish for life-sustaining therapy regardless of condition.

Patients may execute either AD at the conclusion of the survey. This research has the potential to demonstrate widely reproducible methods on which more precise advance planning can be based and thereby improve end-of-life care.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment

100

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Illinois
      • Chicago, Illinois, United States, 60637
        • The University of Chicago

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Hospitalized patients admitted to the general medical service at the University of Chicago

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Hospitalized patients admitted to the general medical service at the University of Chicago
  • Previously enrolled in a study of hospitalized general medicine patients at the University of Chicago

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients who score less than 17 out of 30 on the Folstein Mini-Mental Status Examination or who have a proxy decision-maker
  • Patients who are medically unstable based on two or more abnormal vital signs
  • Patients who face a possible new diagnosis of cancer

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Observational Models: Cohort
  • Time Perspectives: Prospective

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Chicago

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Elmer Abbo, M.D., Ph.D., University of Chicago
  • Principal Investigator: David Meltzer, M.D., Ph.D., University of Chicago

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

July 1, 2005

Primary Completion (Actual)

September 1, 2005

Study Completion (Actual)

September 1, 2005

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 11, 2005

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 18, 2005

First Posted (Estimate)

July 19, 2005

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

September 5, 2013

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 4, 2013

Last Verified

September 1, 2013

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 13787A

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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