Family meetings for hospitalised palliative care patients: Benefits and resource implications
Aim
Family meetings are recommended as standard practice, as a means whereby health professionals, together with family carers and patients (where able) discuss goals of care, site of care options, psychosocial issues, and plans for the future. These encounters are not usually provided consistently or systematically, nor are they conducted according to best available evidence. The purpose of this project is to evaluate outcomes for patients and family carers who attend a structured family meeting (SFM) using clinical guidelines and to determine the cost and resource implications of implementing SFM into standard practice for hospitalised patients with advanced disease.
Research Overview
This is a mixed methods study. A cluster trial design with two way randomisation will be employed over three sites. One site will be randomly selected as a control site, and the remaining two sites will be randomly selected as control and intervention sites.
Project Team
Clinical Investigators:
- Prof Peter Hudson, Centre for Palliative Care, St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne
- Prof Afaf Girgis, University of New South Wales
- Prof Geoff Mitchell, Faculty of Medicine, University of Queensland.
- A/Prof Jennifer Philip, Centre for Palliative Care, St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne.
- A/Prof Deborah Parker, University of Queensland.
- Prof David Currow, Flinders University.
- Prof Danny Liew, Royal Melbourne Hospital.
- Dr Kristina Thomas, Centre for Palliative Care, St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne.
Associate Investigators:
- A/Prof Brian Le, Royal Melbourne Hospital
- Dr Juli Moran, Austin Hospital
- A/Prof Caroline Brand, Monash University
Key Contact
Name: Kristina Thomas
Email: kristina.thomas@svha.org.au
Funding Source
Victorian Cancer Agency
Key Publications
Hudson PL, Girgis A, Mitchell GK, Philip J, Parker D, Currow D, Liew D, Thomas K, Le B, Moran J, Brand C. (2015). "Benefits and resource implications of family meetings for hospitalized palliative care patients: research protocol". BMC Palliative Care. 14:73. doi: 10.1186/s12904-015-0071-6. PMID: 26654721.
Hudson P, Girgis A, Thomas K, Philip J, Currow DC, Mitchell G, Parker D, Liew D, Brand C, Le B, Moran J. (2021). “Do family meetings for hospitalised palliative care patients improve outcomes and reduce health care costs? A cluster randomised trial". Palliative Medicine 35(1):188-199. doi: 10.1177/0269216320967282. PMID: 33135552.