Scaling Implementation of the Serious Illness Care Program Through Coaching.

BACKGROUND: We designed group coaching calls to reinforce communication skill acquisition and Serious Illness Care Program uptake in adult primary care. MEASURES: Percentage of primary care physicians (PCPs) who have documented a serious illness conversation in the electronic health record (EHR) approximately three and six months after the coaching intervention. Participant feedback surveys to better understand provider attitudes toward the coaching intervention. INTERVENTION: We offered 60-minute group coaching calls to internal medicine PCPs, previously trained in serious illness conversation skills, as part of an institutional quality incentive program. The calls addressed communication challenges common to serious illness care and instructed participants about how to document and bill for conversations. OUTCOMES: We completed 31 coaching calls during three months, in which 170 of 228 PCPs attended in groups of two to nine participants per call (74.6% penetration rate). The percentage of PCPs who documented at least one serious illness conversation in the EHR increased from 18.4% to 41.2% six months after the intervention. Primary care internal medicine physicians found the one-hour coaching calls to be highly valuable, with 86.9% of respondents attesting they would recommend the calls to their colleagues. Content analysis of participant feedback identified the most useful coaching content elements to be self-reflection around the impact of prior conversation skills training, instruction around using the EHR to find and document advance care planning discussions, the opportunity to share individual challenges and successes with peers, and feedback/advice from communication experts in palliative care. CONCLUSIONS/LESSONS LEARNED: Group coaching of PCPs resulted in more than a twofold increase in documented serious illness conversations.

"I'd Recommend " How to Incorporate Your Recommendation Into Shared Decision Making for Patients With Serious Illness.

Patients and families facing serious illness often want and need their clinicians to help guide medical decision making by offering a recommendation. Yet clinicians worry that recommendations are not compatible with shared decision making and feel reluctant to offer them. We describe an expert approach to formulating a recommendation using a shared decision-making framework. We offer three steps to formulating a recommendation: 1) evaluate the prognosis and treatment options; 2) understand the range of priorities that are important to your patient given the prognosis; and 3) base your recommendation on the patient's priorities most compatible with the likely prognosis and available treatment options.

A Novel Use of Peer Coaching to Teach Primary Palliative Care Skills: Coaching Consultation.

BACKGROUND: We aim to address palliative care workforce shortages by teaching clinicians how to provide primary palliative care through peer coaching. INTERVENTION: We offered peer coaching to internal medicine residents and hospitalists (attendings, nurse practioners, and physician assistants). MEASURES: An audit of peer coaching encounters and coachee feedback to better understand the applicability of peer coaching in the inpatient setting to teach primary palliative care. OUTCOMES: Residents and hospitalist attendings participated in peer coaching for a broad range of palliative care-related questions about pain and symptom management (44%), communication (34%), and hospice (22%). Clinicians billed for 68% of encounters using a time-based billing model. Content analysis of coachee feedback identified that the most useful elements of coaching are easy access to expertise, tailored teaching, and being in partnership. CONCLUSION/LESSONS LEARNED: Peer coaching can be provided in the inpatient setting to teach primary palliative care and potentially extend the palliative care work force.