Contact information
Type
Scientific
Primary contact
Dr Geoffrey Mitchell
ORCID ID
Contact details
Edith Cavell Building
Univerissty of Queensland Medical School
Herston Road
Herston
4006
Australia
+61 (0)7 3365 5504
g.mitchell@uq.edu.au
Additional identifiers
EudraCT number
ClinicalTrials.gov number
Protocol/serial number
N/A
Study information
Scientific title
Acronym
Study hypothesis
For patients with life limiting disease, formal case conferences held between patients General Practitioners (GPs) and their palliative care team will improve Quality of Life (QoL) for patients and their carers.
Ethics approval
1. University of Queensland Human Research Ethics Committee (approval number B/311/Soc & PrevMed/00/PhD)
2. Mater Adult Hospital Research Ethics Committee (ref no: 369A)
3. Townsville Health service District Institutional Ethics Committee
4. Princess Alexandra Research Ethics Committee (ref: 179/01)
Study design
Mulit-site single blind randomised controlled trial
Primary study design
Interventional
Secondary study design
Randomised controlled trial
Trial setting
GP practices
Trial type
Quality of life
Patient information sheet
Condition
Palliative care
Intervention
Case conference held betwen the patient's GP and the specialist palliative care team, held by tele-conference, within three weeks of referral.
The control group receives usual care- ie communication between GPs and the specialist team was by normal means.
Intervention type
Other
Phase
Not Specified
Drug names
Primary outcome measure
Global quality of life measures at three weeks post intervention
Secondary outcome measures
1. Subscale measures of quality of life scales
2. Process evaluation of GP-specialist case conferences
note: Two a priori analyses planned. The first is using the intervention as a fixed time point, evaluating the effect from the time of the intervention. The second is using date of death as fixed time point, and evaluating intervention from time of death, independent of the time of the intervention
Overall trial start date
01/07/2001
Overall trial end date
31/05/2003
Reason abandoned (if study stopped)
Eligibility
Participant inclusion criteria
1. Adult Patients requiring palliaitve care, and their carergivers who are referred to a participating specialist palliative care service
2. Aged over 18
3. Life expectancy of at least one month
4. Not confused or too unwell to be approached
5. Could read and speak English
6. Had a current GP
Participant type
Patient
Age group
Adult
Gender
Not Specified
Target number of participants
220
Participant exclusion criteria
1. Life expectancy less than one month
2. Confused
3. Too unwell to be approached
4. Could not read or speak English
5. Did not have a current GP
Recruitment start date
01/07/2001
Recruitment end date
31/05/2003
Locations
Countries of recruitment
Australia
Trial participating centre
Edith Cavell Building
Herston
4006
Australia
Sponsor information
Organisation
University of Queensland Medical School (Australia)
Sponsor details
c/o A/Prof Geoffrey Mitchell
Edith Cavell Building
Herston Road
Herston
4006
Australia
+61 (0)7 3365 5504
g.mitchell@uq.edu.au
Sponsor type
University/education
Website
Funders
Funder type
Government
Funder name
Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing, National Health Development Fund (Australia)
Alternative name(s)
Funding Body Type
Funding Body Subtype
Location
Results and Publications
Publication and dissemination plan
Not provided at time of registration
Intention to publish date
Participant level data
Not provided at time of registration
Basic results (scientific)
Publication list
PhD Thesis:
Mitchell G. The effect of case conferences involving general practitioners and palliative care specialists on the health outcomes of palliative care patients. PhD thesis. Brisbane, Univeristy of Queensland, 2005.
Results:
1. Methodology comparison: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16351536
2. Lessons from 56 case conferences: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15887946
3. Participation and effectiveness results: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12098350
4. Quality of life results: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18772208
Publication citations
-
Participation and effectiveness results
Mitchell GK, De Jong IC, Del Mar CB, Clavarino AM, Kennedy R, General practitioner attitudes to case conferences: how can we increase participation and effectiveness?, Med. J. Aust., 2002, 177, 2, 95-97.
-
Quality of life results
Mitchell GK, Del Mar CB, O'Rourke PK, Clavarino AM, Do case conferences between general practitioners and specialist palliative care services improve quality of life? A randomised controlled trial (ISRCTN 52269003)., Palliat Med, 2008, 22, 8, 904-912, doi: 10.1177/0269216308096721.
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Mitchell GK, Abernethy AP, , , A comparison of methodologies from two longitudinal community-based randomized controlled trials of similar interventions in palliative care: what worked and what did not?, J Palliat Med, 2005, 8, 6, 1226-1237, doi: 10.1089/jpm.2005.8.1226.
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Mitchell G, Cherry M, Kennedy R, Weeden K, Burridge L, Clavarino A, O'Rourke P, Del Mar C, General practitioner, specialist providers case conferences in palliative care--lessons learned from 56 case conferences., Aust Fam Physician, 2005, 34, 5, 389-392.