Nudging Effective and Equitable Delivery of Specialty Palliative Care
Enrolling by invitation · Phase 3
Conditions studied: Serious Illness, Palliative
In brief
This stepped-wedge, cluster randomized pragmatic trial among 9 MedStar hospitals for patients with serious illness and unmet palliative care (PC) needs will test two interventions embedded within the electronic health record (EHR): (1) a PC needs triggered alert to opt-in to PC consults nudging hospital clinicians to order specialty PC consults for eligible inpatients, and (2) a palliative care needs triggered alert with an opt-out to palliative care consults. The trial will compare the interventions effects to usual care, focusing on completed PC consults during the hospital encounter and other secondary outcomes. The trial also includes an embedded mixed methods study to explore factors influencing the effectiveness and equity of intervention implementation.
Key facts
- Study ID
- NCT06596577
- Run by
- University of Pennsylvania
- People needed
- 18000
- Starts
- 2025-08-06
- Expected to finish
- 2029-02-28
- Last updated by the study team
- 2026-04-30
Who can join
Age: 18 and older. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.
You may qualify if…
- Age 18 years or older; AND
- Admitted to inpatient status at 1 of the 9 participating hospitals
- Meets validated score threshold of 8 from the MedStar unmet PC needs patient identification algorithm, utilizing empirically-derived weights for each PC need domain within the algorithm.
You may not qualify if…
- Primary inpatient service: hospice, rehabilitation, psychiatry, obstetrics, neonatal
- Signed hospital discharge order
Where it is running
- MedStar Georgetown University Hospital — Washington D.C., District of Columbia, United States
- MedStar Washington Health Center — Washington D.C., District of Columbia, United States
- MedStar Union Memorial Hospital — Baltimore, Maryland, United States
- MedStar Harbor Hospital — Baltimore, Maryland, United States
- MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center — Baltimore, Maryland, United States
- MedStar Good Samaritan Hospital — Baltimore, Maryland, United States
- MedStar Southern Maryland Hospital Center — Clinton, Maryland, United States
- MedStar St. Mary's Hospital — Leonardtown, Maryland, United States
- MedStar Montgomery Medical Center — Olney, Maryland, United States
Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov
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