An Educational Intervention to Improve Resident Comfort With Communication at the End of Life

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the addition of teaching on communication at the end of life to the pre-existing resident curriculum will positively impact residents' knowledge and attitudes regarding communication at the end of life.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: End of Life Communication
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: End of life education

Detailed Description

Previous research has demonstrated a lack of resident training in communication at the end of life. This can lead to anxiety on the part of residents and poor experiences with these conversations. Residents at UCSF, and affiliated sites, participate in a daily formal teaching session from 12-1 pm and an informal case conference, known as Morning Report, from 7:30-8:30 am (8-9 am at VAMC). We propose to administer a pre-intervention survey to residents to assess knowledge and attitudes regarding communication at the end of life. Over two months, residents will receive one lecture during the noon session. Clinical cases will be presented for discussion during three sessions of morning report. All sessions are voluntary and take place at all three training sites, UCSF, SFGH, and the VAMC. As residents rotate every two months between the inpatient and outpatient settings, the intervention will be repeated once to ensure that the majority of residents have the opportunity to participate. A post-intervention survey, identical to the pre-intervention survey, will be administered to assess for impact of the educational intervention. This project only involves UCSF Internal Medicine residents. No patients will be involved in this study.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Anticipated): 166
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • California
    • San Francisco, California, United States, 94143-0903
      • UCSF Program in Medical Ethics

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• UCSF internal medicine resident

Exclusion Criteria:

• Not UCSF internal medicine resident

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Internal Medicine Residents; All UCSf Internal Medicine residents for 2009-2010	Behavioral: End of life education; Residents will participate in one hour, case-based, interactive teaching sessions on end of life communication.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Self-efficacy	Residents participating in the intervention will demonstrate increased self-efficacy for end of life conversations.	90 days

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of California, San Francisco

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: March 1, 2010
• Primary Completion (Actual): June 1, 2010
• Study Completion (Actual): June 1, 2010

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 24, 2010
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 24, 2010
• First Posted (Estimate): June 25, 2010

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimate): February 10, 2011
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 9, 2011
• Last Verified: February 1, 2011

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Pathologic Processes; Death
• Other Study ID Numbers: 10035736