NCT03402763

Intervention to Promote Advance Care Planning for Older Adults in the Emergency Department

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 42 (actual)
• Sponsor: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 65 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

There is an urgent need to increase advance care planning among older adults in order to ensure that patients receive care of the end of life that is consistent with their values and preferences. Emergency departments (EDs) provide an opportunity to reach a large proportion of older adults who have not yet completed advance care planning at a time when they are likely to recognize the need for such planning. The purpose of this pilot is to examine the potential of a video-supported intervention initiated during the emergency department visit to promote advance care planning.

Detailed description

The overarching goal of this project is to understand the impact of an ED-initiated intervention on the promotion of advance care planning (ACP) among older adults. Participants are given either a short informational handout on the process and choices involved in ACP or watch a 6-minute video about ACP. The video describes cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), breathing tube placement, and mechanical breathing support in addition to the general process of ACP. Following the video, patients in the intervention will also have an email sent to their primary care provider. The email will inform the primary care provider that the patient has watched a video about ACP, include a brief synopsis of the video, and provide instructions as to how to document the patient's preferences in the hospital's electronic health record in a way that will be accessible to other providers. Outcomes will include documentation of end-of-life care preferences in the electronic health records and patient-reported conversation with their provider as well as conversations with loved ones.

Conditions

• Emergency Medicine
• Advance Care Planning

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Educational Video	The intervention is an educational video presented to patients in the ED with the intent to promote ACP among older adults.
BEHAVIORAL	Primary Care Provider Email	For intervention patients, an email will be sent to primary care providers explaining that the patient has seen a video about advance care planning, providing a synopsis of the video, and giving instructions about how to document end-of-life care preferences in the electronic health record.

Timeline

• Start date: 2016-02-01
• Primary completion: 2017-02-01
• Completion: 2017-02-01
• First posted: 2018-01-18
• Last updated: 2018-01-18