An Educational Intervention to Improve Resident Comfort With Communication at the End of Life

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: End of Life Communication
• Interventions: Behavioral: End of life education

• Registration Number: NCT01150968
• Lead Sponsor: University of California, San Francisco

Brief Summary

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the addition of teaching on communication at the end of life to the pre-existing resident curriculum will positively impact residents' knowledge and attitudes regarding communication at the end of life.

Detailed Description

Previous research has demonstrated a lack of resident training in communication at the end of life. This can lead to anxiety on the part of residents and poor experiences with these conversations. Residents at UCSF, and affiliated sites, participate in a daily formal teaching session from 12-1 pm and an informal case conference, known as Morning Report, from 7:30-8:30 am (8-9 am at VAMC). We propose to administer a pre-intervention survey to residents to assess knowledge and attitudes regarding communication at the end of life. Over two months, residents will receive one lecture during the noon session. Clinical cases will be presented for discussion during three sessions of morning report. All sessions are voluntary and take place at all three training sites, UCSF, SFGH, and the VAMC. As residents rotate every two months between the inpatient and outpatient settings, the intervention will be repeated once to ensure that the majority of residents have the opportunity to participate. A post-intervention survey, identical to the pre-intervention survey, will be administered to assess for impact of the educational intervention. This project only involves UCSF Internal Medicine residents. No patients will be involved in this study.

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2010-03
• Primary Completion: 2010-06
• Study Completion: 2010-06
• Study First Submitted: 2010-06-24
• Study First Submitted QC: 2010-06-24
• Study First Posted: 2010-06-25
• Status Verified: 2011-02
• Last Update Submitted: 2011-02-09
• Last Update Posted: 2011-02-10

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 166

Inclusion Criteria

• UCSF internal medicine resident

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Exclusion Criteria

• Not UCSF internal medicine resident

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Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: SINGLE_GROUP

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Internal Medicine Residents	End of life education	All UCSf Internal Medicine residents for 2009-2010

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Self-efficacy	90 days	Residents participating in the intervention will demonstrate increased self-efficacy for end of life conversations.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

UCSF Program in Medical Ethics; 🇺🇸 San Francisco, California, United States