Terminal cancer/palliative care Cancer Terminal cancer
Conditions
Interventions
As of 16/02/2009 the status of this record was changed to 'stopped' due to recruitment problems. The trial officially stopped on the 1st February 2009.
Please note that, as of 30/04/2
Sponsors
University of Aarhus (Denmark) - Research Unit for General Practice
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Inclusion criteria
Inclusion criteria: Patients, who at the time of inclusion are diagnosed with incurable cancer, i.e. patients who require palliative care. The patients should also: 1. Be 18 years or older 2. Be able to speak and write Danish fluently 3. Give written and spoken consent 4. Be able to manage in their own home, with or without the help of carers and district nurses 5. Be informed about the diagnosis, also that it is incurable 6. Be registered as suffering from a terminal illness or fulfil the criteria for this
Exclusion criteria
Exclusion criteria: Patients are excluded if they: 1. Have a low level of cognitive skills, which makes it difficult for them to fill in a questionnaire 2. Are residents of a nursing home at the time of inclusion 3. Are receiving oncologic treatment which requires attending an out-patients clinic regularly 4. Already have established contact with a specialist palliative care team at the time of inclusion
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| 1. Patients wish for place of death and place of terminal care fulfilled: the patient will be asked about preference for place of death and place for terminal care at inclusion and a month later. At the time of death we will be able to establish: 1.1. Where the patient died 1.2. Where the patient spent most of the terminal phase using register based data and information from the GP 2. Relative amount of time spent in hospital in the terminal phase: at the patients time of death we will be able to count number of days spent in hospital using the hospitals electronic patient files 3. A subjective measure of the patients symptoms and quality of life (European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire of Palliative care [EORTC-QLQ-15-PAL]): this will be measured at the time of inclusion and a month later | — |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| 1. Patient's satisfaction regarding the services of the GP, district nurse and local hospital: will be measured at inclusion and one month later 2. Patient's experiences regarding cooperation and information sharing in the health care system: will be measured at inclusion and one month later 3. Relative's satisfaction regarding the services of the GP, district nurse and local hospital: will be measured at inclusion, one month later and 2 months after the patients death 4. Relative's experiences regarding cooperation and information sharing in the health care system: will be measured at inclusion, one month later and 2 months after the patients death 5. Relative's experiences regarding the palliative treatment of the patient: will be measured at inclusion, one month later and 2 months after the patients death 6. Subjective burden of relative (Burden Scale for Family Caregivers [BSFC]): will be measured at inclusion and one month later 7. GPs evaluation of the terminal phase: will be measured after the patients death 8. District nurses evaluation of the terminal phase: will be measured after the patients death 9. Hospital doctors evaluation of the terminal phase: will be measured after the patients death | — |
Countries
Denmark
Outcome results
None listed