Standardized Patient-Centered Medication Review in Home Hospice

Summary

This is a pilot cluster randomized trial that tests the effect of a novel intervention that trains hospice staff to 1. regularly review, simplify, and align patients' prescribed medications with their goals of care as their illness progresses, and 2. support family caregivers with education that empowers them to understand each medication's use, develop skills for safe administration, and 3. understand when stopping medications may be beneficial.

Conditions

• Hospices
• Poly Pharmacy
• Deprescriptions
• Caregivers
• Palliative Care
• Prescription Drug Overuse
• Interdisciplinary Communication

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

NIA Medication Management - Active Comparator

As the attention control, we will refer staff in control offices to the National Institution on Aging (NIA)'s website on "Medicines and Medication Management" to review content and materials for use in Family Care Giver (FCG) support.

BEHAVIORAL

STOPPFrail (Screening Tool of Older Persons Prescriptions)

A screening tool used by clinicians with frail older adults with life-limiting illness to review medications

BEHAVIORAL

"Discontinuing Medication Appropriately" and "Understanding the Art of Communication about Deprescribing"

Education resoruce used by clinicians to simplify and align medications with goals of care

BEHAVIORAL

"Key Approaches to Support Informal Family Caregivers in Managing Medications"

Education resource used by clinicians to support Family Care Givers (FCGs)

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Utah

  collaborator OTHER

• Boston College

  collaborator OTHER

• National Institute on Aging (NIA)

  collaborator NIH

• University of Massachusetts, Worcester

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Jennifer Tjia, MD, MSCE · UMass Medical School

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

65 Years

Max Age

110 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2020-01-15

Primary Completion

2022-12-31

Completion

2023-12-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations