Using Whole-Person-Care Guide in Patients Receiving Care for Cancer or Complications From Cancer Treatment

July 9, 2012 updated by: Northwestern University

Developing a Nested Whole-Person-Care Guide: Screening and Evaluation Steps (American Cancer Society) ACS

RATIONALE: Gathering information about patients with cancer and cancer-related conditions may help doctors learn more about a patient's needs and help doctors plan the best treatment.

PURPOSE: This clinical trial is studying how well a whole-person-care guide works in identifying patient needs in patients with cancer or complications from cancer treatment.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

OBJECTIVES:

  • To determine what patient needs are detected from NEST13+ interviews of cancer patients and their caregivers.
  • To determine the concordance among patient, caregiver, and team goals.
  • To determine palliative care services provided.

OUTLINE: Participants are assigned sequentially to 1 of 2 intervention groups.

  • Group 1 (NEST13+): Patients and caregivers undergo NEST13+ interviews at the time of admission to Northwestern Memorial Hospital (caregivers answer the NEST13+ interviews from the patient's perspective). A NEST13+ care plan is then derived from both patient and caregiver responses. Research MD or RN presents patient's NEST13+ findings and recommended interventions for integration with actual care. On the day of discharge, patients and caregivers undergo a second NEST13+ interview.
  • Group 2 (control): Patients and caregivers undergo a sham interview at the time of admission to Northwestern Memorial Hospital. On the day of discharge, patients and caregivers undergo a NEST13+ interview as in group 1.

Medical charts for all patients are reviewed by a member of the research staff to document needs assessments in domains covered by NEST and to document palliative care-related decisions. Abstracted chart review by blinded experts is also performed to evaluate palliative care quality based on National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines.

PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 500 patients and 250 caregivers will be accrued for this study.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Anticipated)

750

Phase

  • Not Applicable

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

21 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

  • Confirmed diagnosis of cancer

  • Admitted to one of the two oncology units at Northwestern Memorial Hospital either for treatment of cancer or treatment-related complications

    • Complications include, but are not limited to, any of the following:

      • Febrile neutropenia
      • Infection
      • Esophagitis from radiochemotherapy
      • Malnutrition
      • Spinal cord compression
      • Bone pain secondary to metastatic bone disease
      • Thrombocytopenia

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

  • Able to read and understand English

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

  • See Disease Characteristics

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

  • Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Patient needs detected
Concordance among patient, caregiver, and team goals
Qualitative and quantitative evaluation of palliative care services provided

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Northwestern University

Investigators

  • Study Chair: Linda Emanuel, MD, PhD, Robert H. Lurie Cancer Center

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, 2001

Primary Completion (Actual)

January 1, 2005

Study Completion (Actual)

January 1, 2005

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 5, 2008

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 5, 2008

First Posted (Estimate)

February 6, 2008

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

July 10, 2012

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 9, 2012

Last Verified

July 1, 2012

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • ACS 03CC1
  • NU-0931-005
  • NU-200708-1439

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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