A Needs-focused Palliative Care Intervention for Older Adults in ICUs (PCplanner)

Operationalizing PCplanner, a Needs-focused Palliative Care for Older Adults in Intensive Care Units: a Randomized Clinical Trial

The quality of intensive care unit (ICU)-based palliative care is highly variable, particularly for the 2 million older adults admitted annually to ICUs. To address these care delivery barriers among older ICU patients, a mobile app platform called PCplanner (Palliative Care planner) was developed. PCplanner automates the identification of high-risk patients (e.g., dementia, declining health status, poor functioning) by directly capturing data from electronic health record (EHR) systems, cultivates family engagement with supportive information and a digital system for self-report of actual needs, and facilitates the delivery of care to those with a high burden of need by coordinating collaboration between ICU teams and palliative care specialists.

150 patients, 150 family caregivers, and 75 physicians from academic and community settings will be enrolled in a RCT designed to test the efficacy of PCplanner-augmented collaborative palliative care vs usual care. Family caregiver and clinician experiences will be explored using mixed methods to understand intervention mechanisms as well as implementation barriers within diverse case contexts. The key hypothesis is that compared to usual care, PCplanner will reduce family caregivers' unmet needs and psychological distress, increase the frequency of goal concordant treatment among older adult patients, and reduce hospital length of stay.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Critical Illness; Aging; Psychological Distress; Informal Caregivers; Palliative Care; Care Delivery Model
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: PCplanner

Detailed Description

The quality of intensive care unit (ICU)-based palliative care is highly variable, particularly for the 2 million older adults admitted annually to ICUs. However, improving care quality on a broad scale with the efficient delivery of patient-centered, need-targeted palliative care is challenging because of logistical and technological barriers. To address these care delivery barriers among older ICU patients, a mobile app platform called PCplanner (Palliative Care planner) was developed. PCplanner automates the identification of high-risk patients (e.g., dementia, declining health status, poor functioning) by directly capturing data from electronic health record (EHR) systems, cultivates family engagement with supportive information and a digital system for self-report of actual needs, and facilitates the delivery of care to those with a high burden of need by coordinating collaboration between ICU teams and palliative care specialists. In pilot comparison to a standard palliative care control, the intervention reduced unmet needs, psychological distress, and length of stay and increased goal concordant care, communication, and hospice utilization.

While these data are compelling, an efficacy evaluation of PCplanner is needed. Therefore, we plan to enroll approximately 150 patients, 150 family caregivers, and 75 physicians will be enrolled from academic and community settings in a project with 2 key aims: (1) Test the efficacy of PCplanner-augmented collaborative palliative care vs usual care in a randomized clinical trial (RCT) with 3-month follow up, and (2) Explore family caregiver and clinician experiences using mixed methods to understand intervention mechanisms as well as implementation barriers within diverse case contexts. The key hypothesis is that compared to usual care, PCplanner will reduce family caregivers' unmet needs and psychological distress, increase the frequency of goal concordant treatment among older adult patients, and reduce hospital length of stay.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 151
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • North Carolina
    • Durham, North Carolina, United States, 27710
      • Duke University Medical Center

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 50 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

PATIENTS

Inclusion Criteria:

• ≥50 years of age
• Receive care in a study ICU for ≥24 hours
• Meets ≥1 of 9 high risk phenotypes a. Dementia (e.g., Alzheimer's, multi-infarct, other dementia etiology) b. Declining health status defined by EITHER: i. ≥2 hospital admissions in 3 months preceding current admission OR ii. >1 ICU admission in 3 months preceding current admission c. Poor functional status defined by EITHER: i. admit from Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) or Long-Term Acute Care (LTAC) facility OR ii. ≥3 activities of daily living (ADL) limitations at admission d. Severe acute illness defined by EITHER: i. cardiac arrest OR ii. multisystem organ failure (≥3 of: lung, kidney, hematological, brain, cardiac, liver) that has worsened over 48 hours (i.e., Sequential Organ Failure Assessment [SOFA] score increase) e. Severe acute stroke (e.g., acute intracranial hemorrhage, ischemic stroke, or traumatic brain injury) f. Acute respiratory failure (ventilation or high oxygen support for ≥24 hours) g. Acute renal failure (new hemodialysis or continuous venovenous hemodiafiltration for ≥1 hour) h. Advanced cancer (Advanced / metastatic cancer diagnosis) i. Shock (use of vasopressor or inotrope for ≥4 hours)

Exclusion Criteria (pre-consent):

• Palliative care consultation performed during the hospitalization before eligibility determination
• Current admission to ICU at the index hospital ≥8 days
• Imprisoned
• No known family or surrogate decision maker
• Death expected within 24 hours

Exclusion Criteria (post-consent):

- Patient dies before T2

FAMILY MEMBER

Inclusion Criteria:

• ≥18 years of age
• Self-described as the individual (related or unrelated) who provides the most support and with whom the patient has a significant relationship (per definition of 'family' described in the Society of Critical Care Medicine 2016 Guidelines for Family-Centered Care in the Neonatal, Pediatric, and Adult ICU)

Exclusion Criteria (pre-consent):

• Lack a knowledge of English such that the potential participant is not confident that they could complete study tasks (app viewing, surveys)
• Imprisoned
• Unable to complete surveys for any reason

Exclusion Criteria (post-consent):

- Low need burden (NEST score <10) at baseline

ICU PHYSICIANS

Inclusion Criteria:

• ≥18 years of age
• Attending or fellow physician in a study ICU

Exclusion Criteria:

- None

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Double

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Intervention; PCplanner intervention during hospitalization	Behavioral: PCplanner; PCplanner-augmented care. The PCplanner mobile app will allow patients / family members to report their needs in a platform viewable by ICU physicians. Should the needs not improve over time, the palliative care team will be activated to contribute to care.
No Intervention: Usual care control; Usual care

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Needs; Existential Concerns; Symptoms; and Therapeutic Interaction (NEST) Scale Total Score	The NEST is a palliative care needs instrument capturing all 8 domains of palliative care quality from patients' family members. Scores range from 0 (no needs) to 130 (higher needs). Reported here is scores at Time 3 (~1 week post-randomization).	Time 1 (baseline), Time 2 (~3 days post-randomization), and Time 3 (~1 week post-randomization)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Patient Health Questionnaire 9-Item Scale (PHQ-9)	A depression symptoms instrument used by patients' family members. Scores range from 0 (no depression symptoms) to 27 (higher depression symptoms). Reported here is the scores at Time 4 (3 months post-randomization).	Time 1 (baseline), Time 3 (~1 week post-randomization), and Time 4 (3 months post-randomization)
Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-Item Scale (GAD-7)	An anxiety symptoms instrument used by patients' family members. Scores range from 0 (no anxiety symptoms) to 21 (higher anxiety symptoms). Reported here is the scores at Time 4 (3 months post-randomization).	Time 1 (baseline), Time 3 (target ~1 week post-randomization), and Time 4 (3 months post-randomization)
Post-Traumatic Stress Symptom (PTSS) Inventory	A post-traumatic stress disorder symptom instrument used by patients' family members. Scores range from 10 (low PTSD symptoms) to 70 (higher PTSD symptoms). Reported here is the scores at Time 4 (3 months post-randomization).	Time 1 (baseline) and Time 4 (3 months post-randomization)
Number of Participants With Goal Concordant Care	A metric of goal concordance as reported by patients' family members.	Time 1 (baseline), Time 2 (target ~3 days post-randomization), and Time 3 (target ~1 week post-randomization)
Patient-Perceived Patient-Centeredness (PPPC) Scale	A measure of patient-centeredness used by patients' family members with scores that range from 12 (higher patient-centeredness) to 48 (lower patient-centeredness).	Time 3 (target ~1 week post-randomization)
Post-randomization Intensive Care Unit Length of Stay	A measure of intensive care unit days after randomization for patients of whom participants are family members/caregivers.	from randomization until intensive care unit discharge
Post-randomization Hospital Length of Stay	A measure of hospital days after randomization for PATIENTS for each patient member of the patient-family member dyad	from randomization until hospital discharge

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Duke University
• Collaborators: National Institute on Aging (NIA)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Christopher Cox, MD, Duke University

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Cox CE, Jones DM, Reagan W, Key MD, Chow V, McFarlin J, Casarett D, Creutzfeldt CJ, Docherty SL. Palliative Care Planner: A Pilot Study to Evaluate Acceptability and Usability of an Electronic Health Records System-integrated, Needs-targeted App Platform. Ann Am Thorac Soc. 2018 Jan;15(1):59-68. doi: 10.1513/AnnalsATS.201706-500OC.
• Cox CE, Olsen MK, Casarett D, Haines K, Al-Hegelan M, Bartz RR, Katz JN, Naglee C, Ashana D, Gilstrap D, Gu J, Parish A, Frear A, Krishnamaneni D, Corcoran A, Docherty SL. Operationalizing needs-focused palliative care for older adults in intensive care units: Design of and rationale for the PCplanner randomized clinical trial. Contemp Clin Trials. 2020 Nov;98:106163. doi: 10.1016/j.cct.2020.106163. Epub 2020 Sep 29.

Helpful Links

• general trial information

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): February 22, 2021
• Primary Completion (Actual): September 26, 2023
• Study Completion (Actual): December 17, 2023

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 1, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 1, 2020
• First Posted (Actual): June 4, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): July 18, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 17, 2025
• Last Verified: July 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: palliative care; informal caregiver; Intensive Care Unit; critical illness; mobile app; care delivery
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Pathologic Processes; Disease Attributes; Critical Illness
• Other Study ID Numbers: Pro00101745; R01AG058915 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: Per NIH and Duke University policies after trial and analyses completed.
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: 2025
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: review by study team
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: STUDY_PROTOCOL; SAP; ICF; ANALYTIC_CODE; CSR

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No