Implementation of RELIEF for Patients With Palliative Care Needs

Summary

For patients with palliative care needs, access to care is constrained by health system resources and a requirement to visit their clinician for assessments. As assessments typically only occur every 4-8 weeks, this results in emergency department visits by patients/caregivers. More frequent assessments would provide more timely and earlier interventions for patients by their clinicians should intervention be required. However, a key barrier to effective symptom management and patient/family comfort is the lack of real-time symptom status.

RELIEF allows for the remote self-reporting of symptoms by patients to their healthcare providers. It is an easy and effective method of remote symptom reporting for patients with palliative care needs, and RELIEF has the potential to result in significant healthcare cost avoidance and improved patient care. The proposed study will establish the feasibility of implementing RELIEF across a diverse set of populations and settings in Canada.

Conditions

• Palliative Care

Interventions

DEVICE

The RELIEF App

RELIEF is a virtual app designed for the remote self-reporting of symptoms in patients with palliative care needs. The patient/caregiver securely logs into the site and self-reports symptoms, distress, and pain using the validated clinical tools ESAS-r, Distress Thermometer (DT), and Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) currently in daily use by healthcare providers across Canada. This data is reported to the healthcare providers via RELIEF. Any increases in symptom burden, distress, or pain are flagged for clinical review as RELIEF alerts. Healthcare providers received alerts via secure email for any sudden changes in symptom status, or if the patient's symptoms, distress, or pain severity increases by set amounts over a period of time. Following review of the RELIEF alert by the healthcare providers, patients receive (1) earlier intervention; (2) mobilization of auxiliary services; and (3) recommendation for urgent clinic/home visit or emergency department visit.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Humber River Hospital

  collaborator OTHER

• The Ottawa Hospital

  collaborator OTHER

• Bruyère Health Research Institute.

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Ottawa

  collaborator OTHER

• Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Toronto

  collaborator OTHER

• Queen's University

  collaborator OTHER

• McMaster University

  collaborator OTHER

• William Osler Health System

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Martin R Chasen, MBChB, MPhil · William Osler Health System

Study Design

Allocation

NA

Purpose

HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Masking

NONE

Model

SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2024-07-01

Primary Completion

2025-01-01

Completion

2025-10-31