• J Palliat Med · Mar 2015

    Care management by oncology nurses to address palliative care needs: a pilot trial to assess feasibility, acceptability, and perceived effectiveness of the CONNECT intervention.

    • Yael Schenker, Douglas White, Margaret Rosenzweig, Edward Chu, Charity Moore, Peter Ellis, Peggy Nikolajski, Colleen Ford, Greer Tiver, Lauren McCarthy, and Robert Arnold.
    • 1 Division of General Internal Medicine, University of Pittsburgh , Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
    • J Palliat Med. 2015 Mar 1; 18 (3): 232-40.

    BackgroundSpecialty palliative care is not accessible for many patients with advanced cancer. There is a need to find alternative palliative care strategies in oncology clinics.ObjectiveThe objective of the study was to assess the feasibility, acceptability, and perceived effectiveness of an oncology nurse-led care management approach to improve primary palliative care.MethodsThe study design was a single-arm pilot trial of the Care Management by Oncology Nurses (CONNECT) intervention, in which registered oncology nurses receive specialized training and work closely with oncologists to (1) address symptom needs; (2) engage patients and caregivers in advance care planning; (3) provide emotional support; and (4) coordinate care. The subjects were 23 patients with advanced cancer, 19 caregivers, and 5 oncologists from a community oncology clinic in western Pennsylvania. Feasibility was assessed through enrollment rates, outcome assessment rates, and visit checklists. Patients, caregivers, and oncologists completed three-month assessments of acceptability and perceived effectiveness.ResultsThe consent-to-approach rate was 86% and enrolled-to-consent rate, 77%. CONNECT was implemented according to protocol for all participants. No participants withdrew after enrollment. Four patients died during the study; three-month outcome assessments were completed with all remaining participants (83%). Patients and caregivers reported high satisfaction with CONNECT and perceived the intervention as helpful in addressing symptoms (85%), coping (91%), and planning for the future (82%). Oncologists unanimously agreed that CONNECT improved the quality of care provided for patients with advanced cancer.ConclusionAn oncology nurse-led care management intervention is feasible, acceptable, and was perceived to be effective for improving provision of primary palliative care. A randomized trial of CONNECT is warranted.

      Pubmed     Full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…