Structured outpatient palliative care family conferences to enhance early integration of palliative care in advanced cancer.

Authors

Cheruppolil Santhosh-Kumar

Cheruppolil R. Santhosh-Kumar

Vince Lombardi Cancer Clinic, Aurora Cancer Care, Aurora Healthcare, Sheboygan, WI

Cheruppolil R. Santhosh-Kumar, Deborah Gray, Stephanie Struve, Carol Huibregtse

Organizations

Vince Lombardi Cancer Clinic, Aurora Cancer Care, Aurora Healthcare, Sheboygan, WI, Vince Lombardi Cancer Clinic, Aurora Healthcare, Sheboygan, WI, Aurora Health Care, Hingham, WI

Research Funding

No funding sources reported

Background: Integrating early palliative care with cancer treatment improves quality of life and survival. Effective communication among physicians, patients and their loved ones is crucial to end-of-life, hospice and palliative care discussions. To address the inherent challenges in these discussions, we implemented a structured outpatient palliative care family conference (OFC) program at our community cancer clinic. Methods: A team comprising a hematologist/oncologist, cancer nurse navigator and social worker developed a toolkit for conducting an OFC, recognizing that each family conference is a unique adaptive challenge. New patients with advanced malignancies and limited life expectancy (<12 months) were offered a 90-minute structured OFC attended by the care team, patient and family members and or friends. Pre and post-conference patient satisfaction surveys and other data were collected prospectively. Results: From March 2014 through May 2015, fortyOFC were conducted (16 female and 24 male patients, median age: 67 years). Diagnoses were advanced gastrointestinal (14), lung (12), hematologic (6) and other (8) malignancies. As a direct result of the OFC program, 18 patients ordered do-not-resuscitate bracelets, 15 completed advanced directives, 7 submitted paperwork for disabled parking permits, 7 were referred to hospice and 4 for rehabilitation therapy. Further results are shown in the table. Conclusions: Structured outpatient palliative care family conferences improve satisfaction of end-of-life discussions and facilitate integration of palliative care options. Enhanced communication between providers, patients and loved ones eases the challenges of such discussions. The OFC approach could be a model for integrating palliative care in community cancer clinics.

OFC survey results (n=30).

# of attendees per OFC3-16
Patient satisfaction scores100%
Improved communication between physician and patient97.5%
Improved communication between patient, loved ones and care team97.5%
Improved communication between patient and family97.5%

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Abstract Details

Meeting

2015 Palliative and Supportive Care in Oncology Symposium

Session Type

Poster Session

Session Title

Poster Session A

Track

Biologic Basis of Symptoms and Treatment Toxicities,Psycho-oncology,End-of-Life Care,Survivorship,Evaluation and Assessment of Patient Symptoms and Quality of Life,Management/Prevention of Symptoms and Treatment Toxicities,Integration and Delivery of Palliative Care in Cancer Care,Psychosocial and Spiritual Care,Communication in Advanced Cancer

Sub Track

Discussions about prognosis

Citation

J Clin Oncol 33, 2015 (suppl 29S; abstr 36)

DOI

10.1200/jco.2015.33.29_suppl.36

Abstract #

36

Poster Bd #

B23

Abstract Disclosures

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