NCT04953143

LiverPAL: A Pilot Study of Inpatient Palliative Care for Patients With Advanced Liver Disease

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 25 (actual)
• Sponsor: Massachusetts General Hospital · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Frequently patients with advanced liver disease experience physical and emotional symptoms during their hospitalization that can may cause a level of discomfort to both the patient and the family members that surround them. This study involves the early introduction of a team of clinicians that specialize in the lessening (palliation) of many of these discomforting symptoms. This team of clinicians is called the palliative care team and they focus on ways to improve pain and other symptom management and to assist patients and their families in coping with the physical, emotional and social issues associated with a diagnosis of advanced liver disease. The team consists of physicians and advance practice nurses who have been specially trained in the care of patients facing serious illness and their caregivers. The investigators are studying the feasibility of delivering this program, the acceptability and satisfaction with the program, and changes in the quality of life, illness understanding, and symptoms of hospitalized patients who receive the program and their caregivers. The study will use a series of questionnaires to measure the study participants' quality of life, physical symptoms, illness and prognostic understanding, and mood. Study questionnaires will be completed in the hospital, home or clinic. Qualitative interviews will be conducted with hepatology and palliative care clinicians as well as patients and caregivers.

Conditions

• Cirrhosis, Liver

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	LiverPal Intervention	Inpatient longitudinal palliative care intervention \- Patients will complete baseline assessments and will be followed by the palliative care clinicians delivering the LiverPal intervention during each of their hospitalizations over a 3 month period LiverPal intervention domains include the following: * Therapeutic relationship * Symptom management * Coping with illness * Prognostic awareness and illness understanding * Treatment decision-making * End-of-life care

Timeline

• Start date: 2022-01-14
• Primary completion: 2022-08-16
• Completion: 2022-08-16
• First posted: 2021-07-07
• Last updated: 2023-06-27

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States