Evidence map›Paper›PMID 24951633›Full record

ArticlePalliative medicine2014

Effectiveness of the palliative care 'Availability, Current issues and Anticipation' (ACA) communication training programme for general practitioners on patient outcomes: a controlled trial.

Willemjan Slort, Annette H Blankenstein, Bart P M Schweitzer, Dirk L Knol, Henriëtte E van der Horst, Neil K Aaronson, Luc Deliens

Abstract readControlled Clinical Trial
In one paragraph

Article in Palliative medicine, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. End-of-Life Care Education as Blended Learning Approach for General Practitioners: a Scoping Review.Journal of cancer education : the official journal of the American Association for Cancer Education · 2023
    Article
  2. Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Willemjan SlortDepartment of General Practice and Elderly Care Medicine, EMGO + Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands slortentan@planet.nl w.slort@vumc.nl.
Annette H BlankensteinDepartment of General Practice and Elderly Care Medicine, EMGO + Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Bart P M SchweitzerDepartment of General Practice and Elderly Care Medicine, EMGO + Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Dirk L KnolDepartment of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, EMGO + Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Henriëtte E van der HorstDepartment of General Practice and Elderly Care Medicine, EMGO + Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Neil K AaronsonDivision of Psychosocial Research and Epidemiology, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Luc DeliensDepartment of Public and Occupational Health, EMGO + Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands End-of-Life Care Research Group, Vrije Universiteit Brussel & Ghent University, Brussels, Belgium.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundAlthough communicating effectively with patients receiving palliative care can be difficult, it may contribute to maintaining or enhancing patients' quality of life. Little is known about the effect of training general practitioners in palliative care-specific communication. We hypothesized that palliative care patients of general practitioners exposed to the 'Availability, Current issues and Anticipation' communication training programme would report better outcomes than patients of control general practitioners.

aimTo evaluate the effectiveness of the Availability, Current issues and Anticipation training programme for general practitioners on patient-reported outcomes.

designIn a controlled trial, general practitioners followed the Availability, Current issues and Anticipation programme or were part of the control group. Patients receiving palliative care of participating general practitioners completed the Palliative Care Outcome Scale, the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 15 Palliative, the Rest & Peace Scale, the Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire-III and the Availability, Current issues and Anticipation Scale, at baseline and 12 months follow-up. We analysed differences between groups using linear mixed models.

trial registrationISRCTN56722368. SETTING/

participantsGeneral practitioners who attended a 2-year Palliative Care Training Course in the Netherlands.

resultsQuestionnaire data were available for 145 patients (89 in intervention and 56 in control group). We found no significant differences over time between the intervention and control groups in any of the five outcome measures. Ceiling effects were observed for the Rest & Peace Scale, Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire-III and Availability, Current issues and Anticipation Scale.

conclusionGeneral practitioner participation in the Availability, Current issues and Anticipation training programme did not have a measurable effect on any of the outcomes investigated. Patients reported high levels of satisfaction with general practitioner care, regardless of group assignment. Future research might focus on general practitioners without special interest in palliative care.

Indexed as

CommunicationPhysician-Patient RelationsProgram EvaluationClinical CompetenceControl GroupsFamily PracticeFemaleGeneral PractitionersHumansMaleNetherlandsPalliative CarePatient SatisfactionCommunicationcontrolled clinical trialeducation medical continuingfamily practiceoutcome assessmentoutcome measurementpalliative care

Identifiers

PMID24951633
PMCPMC4230538

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.