Abstract
Background:
Simple methods to help teams identify patients with goals of care (GOC) conversation needs are lacking.
Objectives:
To develop a tool to identify hospitalized patients who may benefit from GOC conversations.
Methods:
The Preference-Aligned Communication and Treatment (PACT) Conversation Trigger Tool was implemented as part of a quality improvement initiative in 10 Illinois hospitals and validated in a cohort of patients admitted to the coordinating site's oncology unit (n = 135).
Results:
The tool was reliable and acceptable to clinicians using it across sites. Thirty percent (n = 40) of patients screened at the coordinating site's oncology unit triggered positive. These patients were more likely to have a do-not-resuscitate order (43% vs. 11%) and palliative care consult (53% vs. 20%) and had lower mean survival time (125 vs. 248 days) than those who did not trigger (p < 0.001).
Conclusions:
The tool is reliable, acceptable, and can identify hospitalized oncology patients who may benefit from GOC conversations.
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Supplementary Material
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