Study of Default Options in Advance Directives

NCT ID: NCT01817686

Last Updated: 2015-06-30

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

62 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2013-03-31

Study Completion Date

2015-06-30

Brief Summary

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Default options represent the events or conditions that are set into place if no alternatives are actively chosen. The setting of default options has well-established effects on a broad range of human decisions, but its influence on patients' preferences for end-of-life care is only beginning to be understood.

This is a 3-armed randomized clinical trial in Veterans at high risk for critical illness, assessing the impact of Advance Directive (AD) forms framed with different default options. The central goals are to assess how default options in ADs influence the end-of-life care choices made by patients at risk for critical care, and these patients' hospital and ICU utilization.

The investigators hypothesize that setting defaults in real ADs will increase the proportion of Veterans selecting comfort-oriented plans of care, decrease selections of life-extending therapies such as mechanical ventilation and dialysis, and reduce the proportion of time during follow-up that Veterans spend in the hospital and/or ICU, without affecting patient satisfaction with end-of-life care planning.

Detailed Description

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Conditions

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COPD Severe or Very Severe Airflow Obstruction and/or Receiving or Eligible to Receive Long-term Oxygen Therapy Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis Other Interstitial Lung Disease Without Curative Therapy Congestive Heart Failure NYHA Class IV or NYHA Class III Plus 1 Hospitalization in the Past Year Malignancy Any Stage 3B or 4 Solid Tumor

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Primary Study Purpose

HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Blinding Strategy

SINGLE

Participants

Study Groups

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Comfort Default

ADs with pre-selected defaults that focus on providing comfort at end-of-life.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Comfort Default AD forms

Intervention Type OTHER

Consenting subjects will be randomly assigned to one of 3 study arms. Subjects will receive a different AD form based on which arm they have been randomly assigned. Once a completed AD form is received, a debriefing session will be held to alert patients to exactly how the 3 ADs used in the study differ. Once patients are fully informed about the variations in the ADs, the patients will have an opportunity to change their AD selections prior to finalizing them as a part of their medical record. A final satisfaction interview will take place with a research associate who will contact patients via telephone to administer a satisfaction questionnaire.

Life Extension Default

ADs with pre-selected defaults that focus on extending life.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Life Extension Default AD forms

Intervention Type OTHER

Consenting subjects will be randomly assigned to one of 3 study arms. Subjects will receive a different AD form based on which arm they have been randomly assigned. Once a completed AD form is received, a debriefing session will be held to alert patients to exactly how the 3 ADs used in the study differ. Once patients are fully informed about the variations in the ADs, the patients will have an opportunity to change their AD selections prior to finalizing them as a part of their medical record. A final satisfaction interview will take place with a research associate who will contact patients via telephone to administer a satisfaction questionnaire.

Standard Default

ADs without pre-selected defaults.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Standard Default AD forms

Intervention Type OTHER

Consenting subjects will be randomly assigned to one of 3 study arms. Subjects will receive a different AD form based on which arm they have been randomly assigned. Once a completed AD form is received, a debriefing session will be held to alert patients to exactly how the 3 ADs used in the study differ. Once patients are fully informed about the variations in the ADs, the patients will have an opportunity to change their AD selections prior to finalizing them as a part of their medical record. A final satisfaction interview will take place with a research associate who will contact patients via telephone to administer a satisfaction questionnaire.

Interventions

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Comfort Default AD forms

Consenting subjects will be randomly assigned to one of 3 study arms. Subjects will receive a different AD form based on which arm they have been randomly assigned. Once a completed AD form is received, a debriefing session will be held to alert patients to exactly how the 3 ADs used in the study differ. Once patients are fully informed about the variations in the ADs, the patients will have an opportunity to change their AD selections prior to finalizing them as a part of their medical record. A final satisfaction interview will take place with a research associate who will contact patients via telephone to administer a satisfaction questionnaire.

Intervention Type OTHER

Life Extension Default AD forms

Consenting subjects will be randomly assigned to one of 3 study arms. Subjects will receive a different AD form based on which arm they have been randomly assigned. Once a completed AD form is received, a debriefing session will be held to alert patients to exactly how the 3 ADs used in the study differ. Once patients are fully informed about the variations in the ADs, the patients will have an opportunity to change their AD selections prior to finalizing them as a part of their medical record. A final satisfaction interview will take place with a research associate who will contact patients via telephone to administer a satisfaction questionnaire.

Intervention Type OTHER

Standard Default AD forms

Consenting subjects will be randomly assigned to one of 3 study arms. Subjects will receive a different AD form based on which arm they have been randomly assigned. Once a completed AD form is received, a debriefing session will be held to alert patients to exactly how the 3 ADs used in the study differ. Once patients are fully informed about the variations in the ADs, the patients will have an opportunity to change their AD selections prior to finalizing them as a part of their medical record. A final satisfaction interview will take place with a research associate who will contact patients via telephone to administer a satisfaction questionnaire.

Intervention Type OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* Age \> 18 years
* Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) with severe or very severe airflow obstruction on pulmonary function testing and or receiving or eligible to receive long-term oxygen therapy AND/OR
* Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) AND/OR
* Other interstitial lung disease without curative therapy AND/OR
* Any stage 3B or 4 solid tumor AND/OR
* Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) either New York Heart Association NYHA) class IV or NYHA class III plus 1 hospitalization in the past year
* No previously signed advance directive in the medical record
* Neither listed for nor considering lung or heart transplantation
* High anticipated risk for critical illness in the next 2 years based on clinical judgment
* Interest in thinking about filling out an Advance Directive

Exclusion Criteria

* Diseases for which life-extending medical therapies may be available
* Inability to speak and/or read English proficiently
* New clinic patients meeting the clinic provider for the first time
* Patients being actively evaluated or already listed for transplants
* Patients already having an AD
* Cognitive impairment necessitating proxy consent
Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sponsors

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Corporal Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center

FED

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Joshua B. Kayser

Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine

Responsibility Role PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

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Joshua B Kayser, MD, MPH

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Corporal Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center

Locations

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Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Site Status

Countries

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United States

Other Identifiers

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01381

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id