Increasing the Number of Patients Receiving Information About Transition to End-of-life Care

Increasing the Number of Patients Receiving Information About Transition to End-of-life Care: the Effect of a Half-day Physician and Nurse Training

Status

Completed

Phases

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT02091622

Enrollment

1431

Registered

2014-03-19

Start date

2011-08-31

Completion date

2012-10-31

Last updated

2014-03-19

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Disclosure, Palliative Care

Brief summary

Introduction: Honest prognostication and information for patients are important parts of end-of-life care. This study examined whether an educational intervention could increase the proportion of patients who received information about the transition to end-of-life care (ITEOL). Method: Two municipalities (in charge of nursing homes) and two hospitals were randomized to receive an interactive half-day course about ITEOL for physicians and nurses. The proportion of patients who received ITEOL was measured with data from the Swedish Register of Palliative Care (SRPC). Patients were only included if they died an expected death and maintained their ability to express their will until days or hours before their death. Four hospitals and four municipalities were assigned controls, matched by hospital size, population, and proportion of patients receiving ITEOL at baseline.

Interventions

OTHEREducative intervention

Two municipalities (in charge of nursing homes) and two hospitals were randomized to receive an interactive half-day course about ITEOL for physicians and nurses.

Study design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Masking

NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

18 Years to No maximum

Healthy volunteers

Inclusion criteria

* Hospitals and municipalities: Participation in the Swedish Register of Palliative Care. * Patients: Reported from an included hospital or municipality during six months before to six months after intervention.

Exclusion criteria

* Hospitals and municipalities:

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
The proportion of patients who received ITEOL	Six months after intervention	The proportion of patients who received ITEOL was measured with data from the Swedish Register of Palliative Care (SRPC). Six months after the intervention data were collected from the SRPC for all patients who had died at the included hospitals and municipalities. Data were collected from six months before the intervention to six months after the intervention. The outcome was compared before and after the intervention.

Countries

Sweden

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026