Clinical Research Directory

Eliciting Informed Goals of Care in Elderly Patients

Patient-centered medical care considers a patient's values and goals for their health and well-being. Healthcare providers use this information to formulate a medical care plan that is aligned with these expectations. This shared-decision making process should occur with every medical decision, but it is especially important whenever decisions about end-of-life care are being considered. Eliciting patient preferences about resuscitation and life-support treatments in the event of life-threatening illnesses are considered to be a standard of excellent and appropriate medical care. Unfortunately, these discussions don't happen consistently and even when they do occur, are rarely ideal. The consequences can be devastating, often resulting in the delivery of unwanted medical care that can be associated with significant physical and mental suffering among patients and their families. In response to this problem, the investigators developed a novel tool to help guide these difficult conversations between healthcare providers and patients. The investigators previously tested this tool in a small group of hospitalized patients who found it acceptable and helpful. In this larger study, the investigators will compare how effective this tool is compared to usual care in ensuring hospitalized patients have their treatment preferences identified, documented and result in end-of-life care that is consistent with their preferences.

Navigating Advanced Illness Goals And Treatment With Digital Engagement (NAVIGATE)

The goal of this two-armed, parallel-design, pre-/post-intervention assessment clinical trial is to learn if a digital and interactive website helps to improve advance care planning (ACP) engagement among caregivers of patients with serious illness. The main questions it aims to answer are: Does the website increase ACP engagement of caregivers of patients with serious illness? Researchers will compare the digital and interactive website to the usual care (a digital booklet) to see if the digital intervention works to improve ACP engagement among caregivers. Participants who are caregivers will: * Be introduced to a digital website and asked to explore the site over the course of the study. * Complete four self-administered questionnaires (baseline, one-week, six-week, and six-month). Participants who are patients will not have any intervention assigned and will only have their observational data collected through four interviewer-administered questionnaires (baseline, one-week, six-week, and six-month)