Defining the Elements of Early Palliative Care That Are Associated With Patient-Reported Outcomes and the Delivery of End-of-Life Care
(2018) In Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology 36(11). p.1096-1102- Abstract
Purpose We describe the key elements of early palliative care (PC) across the illness trajectory and examine whether visit content was associated with patient-reported outcomes and end-of-life care. Methods We performed a secondary analysis of patients with newly diagnosed advanced lung or noncolorectal GI cancer (N = 171) who were randomly assigned to receive early PC. Participants attended at least monthly visits with board-certified PC physicians and advanced practice nurses at Massachusetts General Hospital. PC clinicians completed surveys documenting visit content after each encounter. Patients reported quality of life (Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General) and mood (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and Patient... (More)
Purpose We describe the key elements of early palliative care (PC) across the illness trajectory and examine whether visit content was associated with patient-reported outcomes and end-of-life care. Methods We performed a secondary analysis of patients with newly diagnosed advanced lung or noncolorectal GI cancer (N = 171) who were randomly assigned to receive early PC. Participants attended at least monthly visits with board-certified PC physicians and advanced practice nurses at Massachusetts General Hospital. PC clinicians completed surveys documenting visit content after each encounter. Patients reported quality of life (Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General) and mood (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and Patient Health Questionnaire-9) at baseline and 24 weeks. End-of-life care data were abstracted from the electronic health record. We summarized visit content over time and used linear and logistic regression to identify whether the proportion of visits addressing a content area was associated with patient-reported outcomes and end-of-life care. Results We analyzed data from 2,921 PC visits, most of which addressed coping (64.2%) and symptom management (74.5%). By 24 weeks, patients who had a higher proportion of visits that addressed coping experienced improved quality of life ( P = .02) and depression symptoms (Depression subscale of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, P = .002; Patient Health Questionnaire-9, P = .004). Patients who had a higher proportion of visits address treatment decisions were less likely to initiate chemotherapy ( P = .02) or be hospitalized ( P = .005) in the 60 days before death. Patients who had a higher proportion of visits addressing advance care planning were more likely to use hospice ( P = .03). Conclusion PC clinicians' focus on coping, treatment decisions, and advance care planning is associated with improved patient outcomes. These data define the key elements of early PC to enable dissemination of the integrated care model.
(Less)
- author
- publishing date
- 2018-04-10
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- keywords
- Adaptation, Psychological, Advance Care Planning, Affect, Aged, Boston, Clinical Decision-Making, Cost of Illness, Delivery of Health Care, Integrated/methods, Electronic Health Records, Female, Gastrointestinal Neoplasms/diagnosis, Humans, Lung Neoplasms/diagnosis, Male, Middle Aged, Palliative Care/methods, Patient Participation, Patient Reported Outcome Measures, Prospective Studies, Quality of Life, Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic, Terminal Care/methods, Time Factors, Treatment Outcome
- in
- Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology
- volume
- 36
- issue
- 11
- pages
- 1096 - 1102
- publisher
- Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:29474102
- scopus:85045063693
- ISSN
- 0732-183X
- DOI
- 10.1200/JCO.2017.75.6676
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- id
- 5a9f973a-37be-412e-a4fc-7e4533aa5801
- date added to LUP
- 2024-11-13 14:05:51
- date last changed
- 2025-07-11 13:21:14
@article{5a9f973a-37be-412e-a4fc-7e4533aa5801,
abstract = {{<p>Purpose We describe the key elements of early palliative care (PC) across the illness trajectory and examine whether visit content was associated with patient-reported outcomes and end-of-life care. Methods We performed a secondary analysis of patients with newly diagnosed advanced lung or noncolorectal GI cancer (N = 171) who were randomly assigned to receive early PC. Participants attended at least monthly visits with board-certified PC physicians and advanced practice nurses at Massachusetts General Hospital. PC clinicians completed surveys documenting visit content after each encounter. Patients reported quality of life (Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General) and mood (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and Patient Health Questionnaire-9) at baseline and 24 weeks. End-of-life care data were abstracted from the electronic health record. We summarized visit content over time and used linear and logistic regression to identify whether the proportion of visits addressing a content area was associated with patient-reported outcomes and end-of-life care. Results We analyzed data from 2,921 PC visits, most of which addressed coping (64.2%) and symptom management (74.5%). By 24 weeks, patients who had a higher proportion of visits that addressed coping experienced improved quality of life ( P = .02) and depression symptoms (Depression subscale of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, P = .002; Patient Health Questionnaire-9, P = .004). Patients who had a higher proportion of visits address treatment decisions were less likely to initiate chemotherapy ( P = .02) or be hospitalized ( P = .005) in the 60 days before death. Patients who had a higher proportion of visits addressing advance care planning were more likely to use hospice ( P = .03). Conclusion PC clinicians' focus on coping, treatment decisions, and advance care planning is associated with improved patient outcomes. These data define the key elements of early PC to enable dissemination of the integrated care model.</p>}},
author = {{Hoerger, Michael and Greer, Joseph A and Jackson, Vicki A and Park, Elyse R and Pirl, William F and El-Jawahri, Areej and Gallagher, Emily R and Hagan, Teresa and Jacobsen, Juliet and Perry, Laura M and Temel, Jennifer S}},
issn = {{0732-183X}},
keywords = {{Adaptation, Psychological; Advance Care Planning; Affect; Aged; Boston; Clinical Decision-Making; Cost of Illness; Delivery of Health Care, Integrated/methods; Electronic Health Records; Female; Gastrointestinal Neoplasms/diagnosis; Humans; Lung Neoplasms/diagnosis; Male; Middle Aged; Palliative Care/methods; Patient Participation; Patient Reported Outcome Measures; Prospective Studies; Quality of Life; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; Terminal Care/methods; Time Factors; Treatment Outcome}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{04}},
number = {{11}},
pages = {{1096--1102}},
publisher = {{Lippincott Williams & Wilkins}},
series = {{Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology}},
title = {{Defining the Elements of Early Palliative Care That Are Associated With Patient-Reported Outcomes and the Delivery of End-of-Life Care}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1200/JCO.2017.75.6676}},
doi = {{10.1200/JCO.2017.75.6676}},
volume = {{36}},
year = {{2018}},
}