Withdrawal of Artificial Nutrition at the End of Life (PERCEPAL) (PERCEPAL)

September 9, 2016 updated by: Centre Hospitalier Régional Metz-Thionville

Caregivers Confronted With the Withdrawal of Artificial Nutrition at the End of Life: Perception and Experienced Difficulties

Withdrawing artificial nutrition in palliative care is an issue that often leads to ethical dilemmas among health care providers, despite clinical guidelines.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Detailed Description

The benefit of artificial nutrition in terminally ill patients has been a highly debated issue for the past 30 years, and abundant data are available regarding its effects on patients. Several clinical guidelines have specified the criteria to be considered before initiating artificial nutrition or hydration. If these guidelines appear consensual in theory, the situation is much less straightforward in practice. The attitude of physicians appeared very variable when it came to prescribing or withholding artificial nutrition or hydration, and the lack of training, among other parameters, seemingly encouraged health care professionals to prescribe artificial nutrition or hydration. Furthermore, the decision of the care provider is unconsciously complicated due to figurative representations associated with food regarding, among other aspects, the mother-child relationship, social cohesion, or religious beliefs.

These differences are more important since the opinion of physicians and nurses is the one that carries the most influence on the patients' decision when deciding to initiate artificial nutrition and because artificial nutrition and hydration are a common source of ethical dilemmas in health care teams. Furthermore, stopping artificial nutrition or hydration could be misconstrued as euthanasia.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

289

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

  • France
      • Metz Cedex 03, France, 57085
        • CHR Metz-Thionville

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

Senior nurses (which are not directly in contact with the patient but involved in team management), nurses (which perform patient care), and nurses' aides (which are involved in hygiene measures) working in the medicine, surgery, and palliative care departments of the regional hospital of Metz-Thionville.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • nurses, and nurses' aides working in medicine, surgery, and palliative care departments of the regional hospital of Metz-Thionville

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Care providers working in pediatrics, gynecology and obstetrics, psychiatry, and emergency departments

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

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Experience of health care providers confronted with the withdrawing of artificial nutrition at the end of life
Time Frame: month 4
Cross-sectional survey questionnaire
month 4

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Experienced difficulties
Time Frame: month 4
Cross-sectional survey questionnaire
month 4

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Centre Hospitalier Régional Metz-Thionville

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Benoît LEHEUP, MD, CHR Metz-Thionville

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

May 1, 2010

Primary Completion (Actual)

August 1, 2010

Study Completion (Actual)

August 1, 2010

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 26, 2016

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 9, 2016

First Posted (Estimate)

September 14, 2016

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

September 14, 2016

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 9, 2016

Last Verified

August 1, 2016

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2010-01Obs-CHRMT

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

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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