- ICH GCP
- US Clinical Trials Registry
- Clinical Trial NCT03833375
Shared Decision Making to Improve Goals-of-Care Decisions for Families of Severe Acute Brain Injury Patients
June 16, 2020 updated by: Susanne Muehlschlegel, University of Massachusetts, Worcester
Severe acute brain injury (SABI), including large artery acute ischemic stroke, intracerebral hemorrhage, and severe traumatic brain injury continue to be the leading cause of death and disability in adults in the U.S. Due to concerns for a poor long-term quality of life, withdrawal of mechanical ventilation and supportive medical care with transition to comfort care is the most common cause of death in SABI, but occurs at a highly variable rate (for example in Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) 45-89%).
Decision aids (DAs) are shared decision-making tools which have been successfully implemented and validated for many other diseases to assist difficult decision making.
The investigators have developed a pilot DA for goals-of-care decisions for surrogates of SABI patients.
This was developed through qualitative research using semi-structured interviews in surrogate decision makers of TBI patients and physicians.
The investigators now propose to pilot-test a DA for surrogates of SABI patients in a feasibility trial.
Study Overview
Status
Completed
Intervention / Treatment
Detailed Description
Severe acute brain injury (SABI), including large artery acute ischemic stroke, intracerebral hemorrhage, and severe traumatic brain injury continue to be the leading cause of death and disability in adults in the U.S, accounting for more than 200,000 of the acute brain injury-related deaths in the U.S. annually.
Patients with SABI are critically ill and most commonly require mechanical ventilation and supportive medical care with artificial nutrition to ensure survival.
However, due to concerns for a poor long-term quality of life, withdrawal of mechanical ventilation and supportive medical care with transition to comfort care is by far the most common cause of death in SABI but occurs at a highly variable rate (for example in TBI 45-90%) at different trauma centers.
Shared decision making is a collaborative process that enhances patients' and surrogates' understanding about prognosis, encourages them to actively weigh the risks and benefits of a treatment, and to match them to patient preferences, thereby decreasing decisional conflict and improving decision quality and health related outcomes.
Decision aids (DAs) are shared decision-making tools which have been successfully implemented and validated for many other diseases to assist difficult decision making.
No DA currently exists for goals-of-care decisions in SABI.
Such a patient- and family-centered DA has the potential to improve decision-making for SABI patients by ensuring proxies receive consistent, evidence-based prognostication while also addressing patients' preferences and values.
The investigators have developed a pilot DA for goals of care decisions by surrogates of SABI patients using qualitative research using semi-structured interviews in surrogate decision makers of TBI patients and physicians, followed by an iterative feedback process with feedback by surrogates, physicians, and other stakeholders (ICU nurses).
The investigators now propose to pilot-test a DA for surrogates of SABI patients in a feasibility trial.
Study Type
Interventional
Enrollment (Actual)
41
Phase
- Not Applicable
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
-
-
Connecticut
-
New Haven, Connecticut, United States, 06520
- Yale Medical School/Yale New Haven Medical Center
-
-
Massachusetts
-
Worcester, Massachusetts, United States, 01655
- University of Massachusetts Medical School
-
-
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
Description
Inclusion Criteria:
- ≥18 years of age; no upper age limit
- Documented health care proxy or legal next of kin of admitted SABI patient with traumatic brain injury, intracerebral hemorrhage or acute ischemic stroke.
- ≥3 days after insult ("stabilization period"); clinical team may ask study team to wait longer if clinically indicated
- SABI patient remains "critically ill" after 3 days defined as: either intubated and mechanically ventilated, or unable to swallow, needing feeding tube beyond hospital discharge (even if not intubated)
- Surrogate is physically present in ICU to receive decision aid and participate in planned family meeting in person (not over phone)
Exclusion Criteria:
- Devastating SABI near death
- Patient will be extubated and pass swallow evaluation (as deemed by clinical team)
- Surrogate is non-English speaking and no interpreter available to translate decision aid (no available validated, translated decision aid version)
- Surrogate is illiterate
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: OTHER
- Allocation: RANDOMIZED
- Interventional Model: PARALLEL
- Masking: NONE
Arms and Interventions
Participant Group / Arm |
Intervention / Treatment |
---|---|
NO_INTERVENTION: Usual Care (n=20)
Control: general information about TBI from Center for Disease Control (CDC)/about stroke/Intracerebral Hemorrhage (ICH) from American Heart/Stroke Association
|
|
EXPERIMENTAL: Decision Aid (n=20)
Paper Decision aid (share decision making tool) with worksheet for surrogates
|
Shared-decision making tool
|
What is the study measuring?
Primary Outcome Measures
Outcome Measure |
Measure Description |
Time Frame |
---|---|---|
Recruitment
Time Frame: From date of approaching surrogate decision maker for consent until the date of the first documented goals-of-care family meeting, assessed up to 1 month after admission.
|
Consent rate
|
From date of approaching surrogate decision maker for consent until the date of the first documented goals-of-care family meeting, assessed up to 1 month after admission.
|
Participation
Time Frame: 1-36 hours after family meeting
|
Proportion of participants who read decision aid and completed worksheet
|
1-36 hours after family meeting
|
Retention
Time Frame: 3 months
|
Number of participants who complete follow-up
|
3 months
|
Secondary Outcome Measures
Outcome Measure |
Measure Description |
Time Frame |
---|---|---|
Clinician-surrogate concordance scale score
Time Frame: Baseline and 1-36 hours after family meeting
|
measures prognostic concordance between ICU clinicians and surrogates.
Participants from both groups will independently estimate numerically a SABI patient's 6-month survival and return to independence.
Concordance is calculated as the absolute value of the difference in prognosis between the surrogate and the clinician, and, therefore, can range from 0 (no concordance) to 100 (full concordance).
|
Baseline and 1-36 hours after family meeting
|
Decision Self-Efficacy Scale
Time Frame: 1-36 hours after family meeting
|
is a validated scale that measures self-confidence in making an informed choice using a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 0 (not at all confident) to 4 (very confident).
|
1-36 hours after family meeting
|
Decisional Conflict Scale
Time Frame: 1-36 hours after family meeting
|
is a validated scale that measures the personal perception of choosing an option and factors contributing to choice uncertainty.
It is a 16-item, 5-item Likert scale with sub-scores for uncertainty, feeling informed, values clarity, decision support and effective decision-making.
It ranges from 0 (strongly agree) to 4 (strongly disagree).
|
1-36 hours after family meeting
|
AIS/Intracerebral Hemorrhage (ICH)/Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) knowledge test
Time Frame: Baseline and 1-36 hours after family meeting
|
Medical knowledge about the goals-of-care decision in SABI will be assessed using the medical knowledge test, which was adapted to 17 questions about goals-of-care and SABI, all of which are addressed in the decision aid.
The % correct will be calculated.
|
Baseline and 1-36 hours after family meeting
|
Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS)
Time Frame: Baseline,1-36 hours after family meeting, and 3-months
|
is a 14-item, two-domain (depression, anxiety) instrument with reliability and validity among ICU surrogates, which is recommended by consensus guidelines for the prospective measurement of psychological distress among ICU surrogates.
Each of the 14 questions are scored between 0 (not at all) and 3 (most of the time), and summed up for a total HADS score, which ranges from 0 to 42, with higher scores indicating worse symptoms.
Total HADS 0-7 =normal, 8-10 borderline abnormal, 11-21=abnormal, indicating high anxiety and depression.
|
Baseline,1-36 hours after family meeting, and 3-months
|
Impact of Events Scale-revised
Time Frame: Baseline,1-36 hours after family meeting, and 3-months
|
is a is a validated 15-item instrument, measuring post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms.
Total score is the sum of all questions and ranges from 0 to 88, with higher scores indicating worse PTSD symptoms.
|
Baseline,1-36 hours after family meeting, and 3-months
|
Quality of Communications Scale
Time Frame: 1-36 hours after family meeting
|
is a is a validated 17-item patient-centered instrument widely used in the ICU to assess surrogates' satisfaction of clinician communication about treatments and understanding treatment decisions.
It ranges between 0 (poor) to 10 (absolutely perfect).
Total score is the sum of all questions and ranges from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating better communication.
|
1-36 hours after family meeting
|
Patient-Perceived Centeredness of Care Scale
Time Frame: 1-36 hours after family meeting
|
is a is a validated 14-item, 4-point Likert scale based test.
Its version adapted to surrogates has shown responsiveness in a recent trial of a nurse-driven communication intervention for surrogates in the ICU.
It ranges between 1 (very well) to 4 (not at all), and median score is calculated from all questions.
Median scores range from 1 to 4, with lower scores indicating more patient- and family-centered care.
|
1-36 hours after family meeting
|
Cumulative duration of the goals-of-care family meetings
Time Frame: 1-36 hours after family meeting
|
Investigators will track the duration of each goals-of-care meeting.
At the patient's ICU discharge, investigators will sum up the cumulative duration of all goals-of-care meetings [minutes].
|
1-36 hours after family meeting
|
Total number of goals-of-care family meetings
Time Frame: 1-36 hours after family meeting
|
Investigators will sum up the total number of goals-of-care meetings at the patient's ICU discharge.
|
1-36 hours after family meeting
|
Patient's survival status
Time Frame: 3-months after goals of care decision
|
Investigators will record whether the patient is dead or alive.
|
3-months after goals of care decision
|
Patient's Glasgow Outcome Scale
Time Frame: 3-months after goals of care decision
|
The Glasgow Outcome Score (GOS) is a validated 5-point scale given to traumatic brain injury or other brain injury patients at some point in their recovery.
It is a very general assessment of the general functioning of the person who suffered a head injury or other neurological injury.
It ranges from 1-5 (higher scores indicating better functional status): 1=death, 2=Vegetative State, 3=Severely Disabled (conscious but the patient requires others for daily support due to disability), 4=Moderately Disabled (the patient is independent but disabled), 5=Good Recovery (the patient has resumed most normal activities but may have minor residual problems).
|
3-months after goals of care decision
|
Patient's modified Rankin Scale
Time Frame: 3-months after goals of care decision
|
is a validated scale that measures the degree of disability or dependence in the daily activities of people who have suffered a stroke or other causes of neurological disability.
It ranges from 0 (no symptoms at all) to 6 (death).
|
3-months after goals of care decision
|
Surrogate Decision Regret Scale
Time Frame: 3-months after goals of care decision
|
is a validated scale that measures distress or remorse after a health care decision with high internal consistency.
It asks 5 questions and provides a 5-point Likert scale.
It ranges between 1 (strongly agree) to 5 (strongly disagree).
|
3-months after goals of care decision
|
Collaborators and Investigators
This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.
Collaborators
Investigators
- Principal Investigator: Dr. Susanne Muehlschlegel, MD, MPH, University of Massachusetts, Worcester
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
- Quinn T, Moskowitz J, Khan MW, Shutter L, Goldberg R, Col N, Mazor KM, Muehlschlegel S. What Families Need and Physicians Deliver: Contrasting Communication Preferences Between Surrogate Decision-Makers and Physicians During Outcome Prognostication in Critically Ill TBI Patients. Neurocrit Care. 2017 Oct;27(2):154-162. doi: 10.1007/s12028-017-0427-2.
- Moskowitz J, Quinn T, Khan MW, Shutter L, Goldberg R, Col N, Mazor KM, Muehlschlegel S. Should We Use the IMPACT-Model for the Outcome Prognostication of TBI Patients? A Qualitative Study Assessing Physicians' Perceptions. MDM Policy Pract. 2018 Mar 26;3(1):2381468318757987. doi: 10.1177/2381468318757987. eCollection 2018 Jan-Jun.
- Muehlschlegel S, Shutter L, Col N, Goldberg R. Decision Aids and Shared Decision-Making in Neurocritical Care: An Unmet Need in Our NeuroICUs. Neurocrit Care. 2015 Aug;23(1):127-30. doi: 10.1007/s12028-014-0097-2.
- Cai X, Robinson J, Muehlschlegel S, White DB, Holloway RG, Sheth KN, Fraenkel L, Hwang DY. Patient Preferences and Surrogate Decision Making in Neuroscience Intensive Care Units. Neurocrit Care. 2015 Aug;23(1):131-41. doi: 10.1007/s12028-015-0149-2.
- Muehlschlegel S, Goostrey K, Flahive J, Zhang Q, Pach JJ, Hwang DY. A Pilot Randomized Clinical Trial of a Goals-of-Care Decision Aid for Surrogates of Severe Acute Brain Injury Patients. Neurology. 2022 Jul 19;99(14):e1446-55. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000200937. Online ahead of print.
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 (ACTUAL)
February 11, 2018
Primary Completion (ACTUAL)
December 2, 2019
Study Completion (ACTUAL)
March 9, 2020
Study Registration Dates
First Submitted
February 4, 2019
First Submitted That Met QC Criteria
February 5, 2019
First Posted (ACTUAL)
February 7, 2019
Study Record Updates
Last Update Posted (ACTUAL)
June 17, 2020
Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria
June 16, 2020
Last Verified
June 1, 2020
More Information
Terms related to this study
Additional Relevant MeSH Terms
- Pathologic Processes
- Cardiovascular Diseases
- Vascular Diseases
- Cerebrovascular Disorders
- Brain Diseases
- Central Nervous System Diseases
- Nervous System Diseases
- Craniocerebral Trauma
- Trauma, Nervous System
- Stroke
- Intracranial Hemorrhages
- Ischemic Stroke
- Brain Injuries
- Wounds and Injuries
- Hemorrhage
- Brain Injuries, Traumatic
- Cerebral Hemorrhage
Other Study ID Numbers
- H00004724/H00015764
- 5K23HD080971 (NIH)
Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)
Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?
NO
Drug and device information, study documents
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product
No
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product
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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