Comparison of Two Methods for Implementing Comfort Care Order Sets in the Inpatient Setting: a Cluster Randomized Trial

Abstract

BACKGROUND: There is an ongoing need for interventions to improve quality of end-of-life care for patients in inpatient settings. OBJECTIVE: To compare two methods for implementing a Comfort Care Education Intervention for Palliative Care Consultation Teams (PCCT) in Veterans Affairs Medical Centers (VAMCs). DESIGN: Cluster randomized implementation trial conducted March 2015-April 2019. PCCTs were assigned to a traditional implementation approach using a teleconference or to an in-person, train-the-champion workshop to prepare PCCTs to be clinical champions at their home sites. PARTICIPANTS: One hundred thirty-two providers from PCCTs at 47 VAMCs. INTERVENTIONS:Both training modalities involved review of educational materials, instruction on using an electronic Comfort Care Order Set, and coaching to deliver the intervention to other providers. MAIN MEASUREMENTS: Several processes of care were identified a priori as quality endpoints for end-of-life care (last 7 days) and abstracted from medical records of veterans who died within 9 months before or after implementation (n = 6,491). The primary endpoint was the presence of an active order for opioid medication at time of death. Secondary endpoints were orders/administration of antipsychotics, benzodiazepines, and scopolamine, do-notresuscitate orders, advance directives, locations of death, palliative care consultations, nasogastric tubes, intravenous lines, physical restraints, pastoral care visits, and family presence at/near time of death. Generalized estimating equations were conducted adjusting for potential covariates. KEY RESULTS: Eighty-eight providers from 23 VAMCs received teleconference training; 44 providers from 23 VAMCs received in-person workshop training. Analyses found no significant differences between intervention groups in any process-of-care endpoints (primary endpoint AOR (CI) = 1.18 (0.74, 1.89). Furthermore, prepost changes were not significant for any endpoints (primary endpoint AOR (CI) = 1.16 (0.92, 1.46). Analyses may have been limited by high baseline values on key endpoints with little room for improvement. CONCLUSION: Findings suggest the clinical effectiveness of palliative care educational intervention was not dependent on which of the two implementation methods was used.

Clinical Study of Influence of Continuous Nursing Intervention Combined with Comfort Nursing Intervention under Medical-Nursing Combination on Self-Care Ability and Satisfaction of Elderly Patients with Chronic Diseases

“…Continuous nursing combined with comfort nursing based on the medical-nursing combination was conducted to patients in the experimental group. During comfort nursing, nursing personnel paid close attention to patients' emotional changes, comfort, and satisfaction, so as to enable them to feel physical and mental pleasure as far as possible [8,10,11].…”

“…Comfort nursing, as the name implies, is a nursing model that enables the maintenance of physical and mental pleasure and reduces adverse emotions in nursing subjects [7][8][9]. In contrast to continuous nursing, comfort nursing cares more about patients' experience and comfort and easily ignores some objective needs.…”