Promoting Goals-of-Care Discussions for Patients With Memory Problems and Their Caregivers

Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to improve communication among clinicians, patients with memory problems, and their family members. We are testing a way to help clinicians have better conversations to address patients' goals for their healthcare. To do this, we created a simple, short guide called the "Jumpstart Guide." The goal of this research study is to show that using this kind of guide is possible and can be helpful for patients and their families. Patients' clinicians may receive a Jumpstart Guide before the patient's clinic visit. Researchers will compare patients whose clinician received a Jumpstart Guide to patients whose clinician did not receive a guide to see if more patients in the Jumpstart Guide group had conversations about the patient's goals for their healthcare. Patients and their family members will also be asked to complete surveys after the visit with their clinician.

Conditions

• Dementia
• Dementia, Vascular
• Mixed Dementias
• Alzheimer Disease
• Huntington Disease
• Lewy Body Disease
• Creutzfeldt-Jakob Syndrome
• Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration
• Cognitive Dysfunction
• Cognitive Aging
• Chronic Disease
• Palliative Care, Patient Care
• Health Care Quality, Access, and Evaluation
• Patient Care
• Health Communication
• Patient Care Planning
• Quality of Life

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Jumpstart Guide

The Jumpstart Guide is a communication-priming intervention for clinicians, patients and their families in the outpatient setting. The intervention's goal is to prompt clinicians to provide, during a scheduled (non-urgent) clinic visit, standard of care which includes a discussion with patients (and/or their LNOKs) about their goals of care. It is designed to promote and guide these discussions for older adults with memory problems through suggestions and tips on the Jumpstart Guide.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Institute on Aging (NIA)

  collaborator NIH

• University of Washington

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Erin Kross, MD · University of Washington

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2023-09-11

Primary Completion

2026-06-30

Completion

2027-07-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations