Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33472789›Full record

ArticleBMJ open2021

Timely short-term specialised palliative care service intervention for frail older people and their family carers in primary care: study protocol for a pilot randomised controlled trial.

Kim de Nooijer, Lara Pivodic, Nele Van Den Noortgate, Peter Pype, Lieve Van den Block

Open access · goldAbstract readClinical Trial Protocol
In one paragraph

Article in BMJ open, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
1.2field-weighted citation impact, top 22% of its field
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 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 7 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Trial
  3. Trial
  4. Article
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

5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Kim de NooijerEnd-of-Life Care Research Group, Department of Family Medicine and Chronic Care, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium kim.de.nooijer@vub.be.ORCID 0000-0003-2887-6832
Lara PivodicEnd-of-Life Care Research Group, Department of Family Medicine and Chronic Care, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium.ORCID 0000-0002-8825-3699
Nele Van Den NoortgateEnd-of-Life Care Research Group, Department of Family Medicine and Chronic Care, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium.ORCID 0000-0001-5546-5380
Peter PypeEnd-of-Life Care Research Group, Department of Family Medicine and Chronic Care, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium.ORCID 0000-0003-2273-0250
Lieve Van den BlockEnd-of-Life Care Research Group, Department of Family Medicine and Chronic Care, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium.ORCID 0000-0002-7770-348X
Vrije Universiteit Brussel · BE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionThere is limited evidence regarding the effectiveness of timely integration of short-term specialised palliative care services for older people in primary care. Using a Theory of Change approach, we developed such an intervention, the Frailty+ intervention. We present the protocol of a pilot randomised controlled trial (RCT) with a process evaluation that aims to assess the feasibility and preliminary effectiveness of the Frailty+ intervention. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: We will conduct a pilot RCT in Flanders, Belgium. Frail older people who are discharged to home from hospital will be identified and recruited. Seventy-six will be randomly assigned either to the control group (standard care) or the intervention group (Frailty+ intervention alongside standard care). Data will be collected from patients and family carers. At the core of the Frailty+ intervention is the provision of timely short-term specialised palliative care facilitated by a nurse from the specialised palliative home care service over a period of 8 weeks. We will assess feasibility in terms of recruitment, randomisation, acceptability of the intervention, retention in the programme and data completion. The primary outcome for assessing preliminary effectiveness is a mean score across five key symptoms that are amenable to change (ie, breathlessness, pain, anxiety, constipation, fatigue), measured at baseline and 8 weeks post-baseline. The process evaluation will be conducted in the intervention group only, with measurements at 8-11 weeks post-baseline to evaluate implementation, mechanisms of change and contextual factors. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The study has been approved by the ethics committee of University Hospital Ghent. Results will be used to inform the design of a full-scale RCT and will be published in a peer-reviewed, open access journal. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ISRCTN39282347; Pre-results.

Indexed as

CaregiversFrail ElderlyPalliative CareAgedAged, 80 and overBelgiumFamily HealthHumansPilot ProjectsPrimary Health CareRandomized Controlled Trials as Topicadult palliative carepalliative careprimary care

Identifiers

PMID33472789
PMCPMC8483035
OpenAlexW3122143072

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.