Mobile Integrated Health Interventions for Older Adults: A Systematic Review.

Background and Objectives: Mobile integrated health (MIH) interventions have not been well described in older adult populations. The objective of this systematic review was to evaluate the characteristics and effectiveness of MIH programs on health-related outcomes among older adults. Research Design and Methods: We searched Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid EMBASE, CINAHL, AgeLine, Social Work Abstracts, and The Cochrane Library through June 2021 for randomized controlled trials or cohort studies evaluating MIH among adults aged 65 and older in the general community. Studies were screened for eligibility against predefined inclusion/exclusion criteria. Using at least 2 independent reviewers, quality was appraised using the Downs and Black checklist and study characteristics and findings were synthesized and evaluated for potential bias. Results: Screening of 2,160 records identified 15 studies. The mean age of participants was 67 years. The MIH interventions varied in their focus, community paramedic training, types of assessments and interventions delivered, physician oversight, use of telemedicine, and post-visit follow-up. Studies reported significant reductions in emergency call volume (5 studies) and immediate emergency department (ED) transports (3 studies). The 3 studies examining subsequent ED visits and 4 studies examining readmission rates reported mixed results. Studies reported low adverse event rates (5 studies), high patient and provider satisfaction (5 studies), and costs equivalent to or less than usual paramedic care (3 studies). Discussion and Implications: There is wide variability in MIH provider training, program coordination, and quality-based metrics, creating heterogeneity that make definitive conclusions challenging. Nonetheless, studies suggest MIH reduces emergency call volume and ED transport rates while improving patient experience and reducing overall health care costs.

Association between sternal wound complications and 10-year mortality following coronary artery bypass grafting.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the association between sternal wound complications (SWC) and long-term mortality in the Arterial Revascularization Trial. METHODS: Participants in the Arterial Revascularization Trial were stratified according to the occurrence of postoperative SWC. The primary outcome was all-cause mortality at long-term follow-up. The secondary outcome was major adverse cardiovascular events. RESULTS: Three thousand one hundred two patients were included in the analysis; the median follow-up was 10 years. 115 patients (3.7%) had postoperative SWC: 85 (73.9%) deep sternal wound infections and 30 (26.1%) sterile SWC that required sternal reconstruction. Independent predictors of SWC included diabetes (odds ratio [OR], 2.77; 95% CI, 1.79-4.30; P < .001), female sex (OR, 2.73; 95% CI, 1.71-4.38; P < .001), prior stroke (OR, 2.59; 95% CI, 1.12-5.98; P = .03), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (OR, 2.44; 95% CI, 1.60-3.71; P < .001), and use of bilateral internal thoracic artery (OR, 1.70; 95% CI, 1.12-2.59; P = .01). Postoperative SWC was significantly associated with long-term mortality. The Kaplan-Meier survival estimate was 91.3% at 5 years and 79.4% at 10 years in patients without SWC, and 86.1% and 64.3% in patients with SWC (log rank P < .001). The rate of major adverse cardiovascular events was also higher among patients who had SWC (n = 51 [44.3%] vs 758 [25.4%]; P < .001). Using multivariable analysis, the occurrence of SWC was independently associated with long-term mortality (hazard ratio, 1.81; 95% CI, 1.30-2.54; P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: In the Arterial Revascularization Trial, postoperative SWC although uncommon were significantly associated with long-term mortality.

Faces Scales for Anxiety and Anger: A National Study of Measurement Properties.

Importance: Faces scales are used worldwide to assess pain, but robust faces scales for anxiety and anger do not exist. These scales are urgently needed, because an estimated two-thirds of patients have difficulty reading written questionnaires.Objective: To develop and evaluate measurement properties of faces scales to monitor two mental health symptoms in US adults (anxiety and anger) in accordance with the COnsensus-based Standards for health Measurement INstruments (COSMIN).Methods: The development process included population identification, scale generation, and pretesting. The evaluation process included assessment of content validity, construct validity, criterion validity, test-retest reliability, and measurement error using 5 order-randomized, positively controlled online survey studies conducted between April and June 2020. We recruited national purposive samples of US adults representative on age, gender, and race. For each faces scale, participants assessed relevance, comprehensibility, and comprehensiveness (study 1, n = 300), strength-of-association (study 2, n = 300), convergent validity against the visual analog scale (VAS; study 3, n = 305), convergent validity against the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) questionnaires (study 4, n = 1,000), and test-retest reliability and measurement error (study 5, n = 853).Results: The anxiety and anger faces scales showed high relevance (95%-96%), comprehensibility (93%-97%), comprehensiveness (94%-97%), and strength-of-association (74%-96%). We found very high agreement with the VAS (ρ = 0.94-0.95) and high agreement with PROMIS questionnaires (ρ = 0.74-0.79). Scales showed adequate test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation = 0.70-0.78) and measurement error (standard error of measurement = 1.14-1.22).Conclusions: Faces scales to monitor anxiety and anger show adequate measurement properties, including content validity, construct validity, criterion validity, test-retest reliability, and measurement error. The recommended use is non-diagnostic monitoring of anxiety and anger, particularly when mental health is an ancillary but important outcome of treatment.

Using Mobile Integrated Health and telehealth to support transitions of care among patients with heart failure (MIGHTy-Heart): protocol for a pragmatic randomised controlled trial.

INTRODUCTION: Nearly one-quarter of patients discharged from the hospital with heart failure (HF) are readmitted within 30 days, placing a significant burden on patients, families and health systems. The objective of the 'Using Mobile Integrated Health and Telehealth to support transitions of care among patients with Heart failure' (MIGHTy-Heart) study is to compare the effectiveness of two postdischarge interventions on healthcare utilisation, patient-reported outcomes and healthcare quality among patients with HF. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The MIGHTy-Heart study is a pragmatic comparative effectiveness trial comparing two interventions demonstrated to improve the hospital to home transition for patients with HF: mobile integrated health (MIH) and transitions of care coordinators (TOCC). The MIH intervention bundles home visits from a community paramedic (CP) with telehealth video visits by emergency medicine physicians to support the management of acute symptoms and postdischarge care coordination. The TOCC intervention consists of follow-up phone calls from a registered nurse within 48-72 hours of discharge to assess a patient's clinical status, identify unmet clinical and social needs and reinforce patient education (eg, medication adherence and lifestyle changes). MIGHTy-Heart is enrolling and randomising (1:1) 2100 patients with HF who are discharged to home following a hospitalisation in two New York City (NY, USA) academic health systems. The coprimary study outcomes are all-cause 30-day hospital readmissions and quality of life measured with the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire 30 days after hospital discharge. The secondary endpoints are days at home, preventable emergency department visits, unplanned hospital admissions and patient-reported symptoms. Data sources for the study outcomes include patient surveys, electronic health records and claims submitted to Medicare and Medicaid. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: All participants provide written or verbal informed consent prior to randomisation in English, Spanish, French, Mandarin or Russian. Study findings are being disseminated to scientific audiences through peer-reviewed publications and presentations at national and international conferences. This study has been approved by: Biomedical Research Alliance of New York (BRANY #20-08-329-380), Weill Cornell Medicine Institutional Review Board (20-08022605) and Mt. Sinai Institutional Review Board (20-01901). TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: Clinicaltrials.gov, NCT04662541.

Methodological Standards for the Design, Implementation, and Analysis of Randomized Trials in Cardiac Surgery: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association.

Cardiac surgery presents specific methodological challenges in the design, implementation, and analysis of randomized controlled trials. The purposes of this scientific statement are to review key standards in cardiac surgery randomized trial design and implementation, and to provide recommendations for conducting and interpreting cardiac surgery trials. Recommendations include a careful evaluation of the suitability of the research question for a clinical trial, assessment of clinical equipoise, feasibility of enrolling a representative patient cohort, impact of practice variations on the safety and efficacy of the study intervention, likelihood and impact of crossover, and duration of follow-up. Trial interventions and study end points should be predefined, and appropriate strategies must be used to ensure adequate deliverability of the trial interventions. Every effort must be made to ensure a high completeness of follow-up; trial design and analytic techniques must be tailored to the specific research question and trial setting.

Cardiac symptom burden and arrhythmia recurrence drives digital health use: results from the iHEART randomized controlled trial.

AIMS: Digital health can transform the management of atrial fibrillation (AF) and enable patients to take a central role in detecting symptoms and self-managing AF. There is a gap in understanding factors that support sustained use of digital health tools for patients with AF. This study identified predictors of Alivecor® KardiaMobile ECG monitor usage among patients with AF enrolled in the iPhone®Helping Evaluate Atrial fibrillation Rhythm through Technology (iHEART) randomized controlled trial. METHODS AND RESULTS: We analysed data from 105 English and Spanish-speaking adults with AF enrolled in the intervention arm of the iHEART trial. The iHEART intervention included smartphone-based electrocardiogram self-monitoring with Alivecor® KardiaMobile and triweekly text messages for 6 months. The primary outcome was use of Alivecor® categorized as: infrequent (≤5 times/week), moderate (>5 times and ≤11 times/week), and frequent (>11 times/week). We applied multinomial logistic regression modelling to characterize frequency and predictors of use. Of the 105 participants, 25% were female, 75% were White, and 45% were ≥65 years of age. Premature atrial contractions (PACs) [adjusted odds ratio (OR): 1.23, 1.08-1.40, P = 0.002] predicted frequent as compared to infrequent use. PACs (adjusted OR: 1.17, 95% confidence interval 1.06-1.30, P = 0.003), lower symptom burden (adjusted OR: 1.06, 1.01-1.11, P = 0.02), and less treatment concern (adjusted OR: 0.96, 0.93-0.99, P = 0.02) predicted moderate as compared to infrequent use. CONCLUSIONS: Frequent use of AliveCor® is associated with AF symptoms and potentially symptomatic cardiac events. Symptom burden and frequency should be measured and incorporated into analyses of future digital health trials for AF management.

Attitudes toward deprescribing among adults with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Attitudes toward deprescribing could vary among subpopulations. We sought to understand patient attitudes toward deprescribing among patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: Academic medical center in New York City. PARTICIPANTS: Consecutive patients with HFpEF seen in July 2018-December 2019 at a program dedicated to providing care to older adults with HFpEF. MEASUREMENTS: We assessed the prevalence of vulnerabilities outlined in the domain management approach for caring for patients with heart failure and examined data on patient attitudes toward having their medicines deprescribed via the revised Patient Attitudes Toward Deprescribing (rPATD). RESULTS: Among 134 patients with HFpEF, median age was 75 (interquartile range 69-82), 60.4% were women, and 35.8% were nonwhite. Almost all patients had polypharmacy (94.0%) and 56.0% had hyperpolypharmacy; multimorbidity (80.6%) and frailty (78.7%) were also common. Overall, 90.3% reported that they would be willing to have one or more of their medicines deprescribed if told it was possible by their doctors; and 26.9% reported that they would like to try stopping one of their medicines to see how they feel without it. Notably, 91.8% of patients reported that they would like to be involved in decisions about their medicines. In bivariate logistic regression, nonwhite participants were less likely to want to try stopping one of their medicines to see how they feel without it (odds ratio 0.25, 95% confidence interval [0.09-0.62], p = 0.005). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with HFpEF contend with many vulnerabilities that could prompt consideration for deprescribing. Most patients with HFpEF were amenable to deprescribing. Race may be an important factor that impacts patient attitudes toward deprescribing.

Effectiveness of Mobile Health Technology Interventions for Patients With Heart Failure: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Heart failure (HF) is a complex and serious condition associated with substantial morbidity, mortality, and health care costs. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the effects of mobile health (mHealth) interventions compared with usual care in patients with HF. METHODS: We searched MEDLINE, CENTRAL, CINAHL, and EMBASE databases to identify eligible randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of mHealth interventions. Primary outcomes included: all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality, HF-related hospitalizations, and all-cause hospitalizations. Meta-analyses using a random effects model were performed for all outcomes. Risk of bias and quality of evidence were evaluated using the Cochrane Tool and the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) framework. RESULTS: Sixteen RCTs involving 4389 patients were included. Compared with usual care, mHealth interventions reduced the risk of all-cause mortality (risk ratio [RR], 0.80; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.65-0.97; absolute risk reduction [ARR], 2.1%; high-quality evidence), cardiovascular mortality (RR, 0.70; 95% CI, 0.53-0.91; ARR, 2.9%; high-quality evidence), and HF hospitalizations (RR, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.67-0.88; ARR, 5%; high-quality evidence), but had no effect on all-cause hospitalizations. Results were driven by mHealth interventions with remote monitoring and clinical feedback, which were associated with larger reductions than stand-alone mHealth interventions. However, subgroup differences were not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: mHealth interventions with remote monitoring and clinical feedback reduce mortality and HF-related hospitalizations, but might not reduce all-cause hospitalizations in patients with HF. Additional studies are needed to determine the efficacy of stand-alone mHealth interventions as well as active features of mHealth that contribute to efficacy.

Eliciting the educational needs and priorities of home care workers on end-of-life care for patients with heart failure using nominal group technique.

BACKGROUND: Home care workers, as paid caregivers, assist with many aspects of home-based heart failure care. However, most home care workers do not receive systematic training on end-of-life care for heart failure patients. AIM: To elicit the educational needs and priorities of home care workers caring for community- dwelling adults with heart failure at the end-of-life. DESIGN: Nominal group technique involving a semi-quantitative structured group process and point rating system was used to designate the importance of priorities elicited from home care workers. Individual responses to the question, "If you have ever cared for a heart failure patient who was dying (or receiving end-of-life care on hospice), what are some of the challenges you faced?", were aggregated into categories using directed content analysis methods. SETTING/PARTICIPANTS: Forty-one home care workers were recruited from a non-profit training and education organization in New York City. RESULTS: Individual responses to the question were aggregated into five categories: (1) how to cope and grieve; (2) assisting patients with behavior changes, (3) supporting patients to improve their quality of life, (4) assisting patients with physical symptom management, and (5) symptom recognition and assessment. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings confirm the need for the formal development and evaluation of an educational program for home care workers to improve the care of heart failure patients at the end-of-life. There is also a need for research on integrating home care workers into the interprofessional healthcare team to support optimal health outcomes for patients with heart failure.

The Development and Implementation of a Cardiac Home Hospice Program: Results of a RE-AIM Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Use of hospice has grown among patients with heart failure; however, gaps remain in the ability of agencies to tailor services to meet their needs. AIM: This study describes the implementation of a cardiac home hospice program and insights for dissemination to other hospice programs. DESIGN: We conducted a multimethod analysis structured around the Reach Effectiveness Adoption Implementation and Maintenance (RE-AIM) framework. SETTINGS/PARTICIPANTS: We used electronic medical records for our quantitative data source and interviews with hospice clinicians from a not-for-profit hospice agency (N = 32) for our qualitative data source. RESULTS: Reach-A total of 1273 participants were enrolled in the cardiac home hospice program, of which 57% were female and 42% were black or Hispanic with a mean age was 86 years. Effectiveness-The cardiac home hospice program increased hospice enrollment among patients with heart failure from 7.9% to 9.5% over 1 year (2016-2017). Adoption-Institutional factors that supported the program included the acute need to support medically complex patients at the end of life and an engaged clinical champion. Implementation-Program implementation was supported by interdisciplinary teams who engaged in care coordination. Maintenance-The program has been maintained for over 3 years. CONCLUSION: The cardiac home hospice program strengthened hospice clinicians' ability to confidently provide care for patients with heart failure, expanded awareness of their symptoms among clinicians, and was associated with increased enrollment of patients with heart failure over the study period. This RE-AIM evaluation provides lessons learned and strategies for future adoption, implementation, and maintenance of a cardiac home hospice program.

Older Adults Can Successfully Monitor Symptoms Using an Inclusively Designed Mobile Application.

OBJECTIVES: Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) measures can monitor patients with chronic illnesses outside of healthcare settings. Unfortunately, few applications that collect electronic PROMIS measures are designed using inclusive design principles that ensure wide accessibility and usability, thus limiting use by older adults with chronic illnesses. Our aim was to establish the feasibility of using an inclusively designed mobile application tailored to older adults to report PROMIS measures by examining (1) PROMIS scores collected with the application, (2) patient-reported usability of the application, and (3) differences in usability by age. DESIGN: Cross-sectional feasibility study. SETTING: Inpatient and outpatient cardiac units at an urban academic medical center. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 168 English- and Spanish-speaking older adults with heart failure. INTERVENTION: Participants used an inclusively designed mobile application to self-report PROMIS measures. MEASUREMENTS: Eleven PROMIS Short-Form questionnaires (Anxiety, Ability to Participate in Social Roles and Activities, Applied Cognition-Abilities, Depression, Emotional Distress-Anger, Fatigue, Global Mental Health, Global Physical Health; Pain Interference, Physical Function, Sleep Disturbance), and a validated health technology usability survey measuring Perceived Ease-of-Use and Usefulness of the application. RESULTS: Overall, 27% of participants were between 65 and 74 years of age, 10% were 75 years or older, 63% were male, 32% were white, and 96% had two or more medical conditions. There was no missing PROMIS data, and mean PROMIS scores showed the greatest burden of pain, fatigue, and physical function in the sample. Usability scores were high and not associated with age (Perceived Ease-of-Use P = .77; Perceived Usefulness P = .91). CONCLUSION: It is feasible for older adults to use an inclusively designed application to report complete PROMIS data with high perceived usability. To ensure data completeness and the opportunity to study multiple domains of physical, mental, and social health, future work should use inclusive design principles for applications collecting PROMIS measures among older adults. J Am Geriatr Soc 68:1313-1318, 2020.

Visual analogies, not graphs, increase patients' comprehension of changes in their health status.

OBJECTIVES: Patients increasingly use patient-reported outcomes (PROs) to self-monitor their health status. Visualizing PROs longitudinally (over time) could help patients interpret and contextualize their PROs. The study sought to assess hospitalized patients' objective comprehension (primary outcome) of text-only, non-graph, and graph visualizations that display longitudinal PROs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a clinical research study in 40 hospitalized patients comparing 4 visualization conditions: (1) text-only, (2) text plus visual analogy, (3) text plus number line, and (4) text plus line graph. Each participant viewed every condition, and we used counterbalancing (systematic randomization) to control for potential order effects. We assessed objective comprehension using the International Organization for Standardization protocol. Secondary outcomes included response times, preferences, risk perceptions, and behavioral intentions. RESULTS: Overall, 63% correctly comprehended the text-only condition and 60% comprehended the line graph condition, compared with 83% for the visual analogy and 70% for the number line (P = .05) conditions. Participants comprehended the visual analogy significantly better than the text-only (P = .02) and line graph (P = .02) conditions. Of participants who comprehended at least 1 condition, 14% preferred a condition that they did not comprehend. Low comprehension was associated with worse cognition (P < .001), lower education level (P = .02), and fewer financial resources (P = .03). CONCLUSIONS: The results support using visual analogies rather than text to display longitudinal PROs but caution against relying on graphs, which is consistent with the known high prevalence of inadequate graph literacy. The discrepancies between comprehension and preferences suggest factors other than comprehension influence preferences, and that future researchers should assess comprehension rather than preferences to guide presentation decisions.

Interventions to increase patient portal use in vulnerable populations: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: More than 100 studies document disparities in patient portal use among vulnerable populations. Developing and testing strategies to reduce disparities in use is essential to ensure portals benefit all populations. OBJECTIVE: To systematically review the impact of interventions designed to: (1) increase portal use or predictors of use in vulnerable patient populations, or (2) reduce disparities in use. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A librarian searched Ovid MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, and Cochrane Reviews for studies published before September 1, 2018. Two reviewers independently selected English-language research articles that evaluated any interventions designed to impact an eligible outcome. One reviewer extracted data and categorized interventions, then another assessed accuracy. Two reviewers independently assessed risk of bias. RESULTS: Out of 18 included studies, 15 (83%) assessed an intervention's impact on portal use, 7 (39%) on predictors of use, and 1 (6%) on disparities in use. Most interventions studied focused on the individual (13 out of 26, 50%), as opposed to facilitating conditions, such as the tool, task, environment, or organization (SEIPS model). Twelve studies (67%) reported a statistically significant increase in portal use or predictors of use, or reduced disparities. Five studies (28%) had high or unclear risk of bias. CONCLUSION: Individually focused interventions have the most evidence for increasing portal use in vulnerable populations. Interventions affecting other system elements (tool, task, environment, organization) have not been sufficiently studied to draw conclusions. Given the well-established evidence for disparities in use and the limited research on effective interventions, research should move beyond identifying disparities to systematically addressing them at multiple levels.

Facilitated Peer Mentorship to Support Aging Research: A RE-AIM Evaluation of the CoMPAdRE Program.

BACKGROUND: The need for mentorship in aging research among postdoctoral trainees and junior faculty across medical disciplines and subspecialties is increasing, yet senior personnel with expertise in aging are lacking to fulfill the traditional dyadic mentorship role. Facilitated peer mentorship is grounded in collaborative work among peers with the guidance of a senior mentor. METHODS AND RESULTS: We evaluated the Columbia University Mentor Peer Aging Research (CoMPAdRE) program, an interprofessional facilitated peer mentorship program for early stage investigators, using the Reach Effectiveness Adoption Implementation and Maintenance framework (RE-AIM). Reach: A total of 15 participants, of which 20% were women, from five states and across six medical specialties participated. Effectiveness: Participants published 183 papers, of which more than 20% were collaborative papers between CoMPAdRE mentees or mentees-mentor. Participants reported developing skills in negotiation, navigating the academic role, organizing a seminar, management, and leadership over the course of the program. According to the qualitative findings, the most important components of the program included alignment around the aging, learning from national leaders, developing leadership skills and career networking. Adoption: Individual-level factors included selecting participants with a research track record, willingness to sign a compact of commitment and involvement in shaping the program. An institutional-level factor that facilitated program adoption included strong commitment from department leaders. IMPLEMENTATION: The program cost $3,259 per participant. Maintenance: CoMPAdRE is being maintained and currently incorporating a second cohort of mentees. CONCLUSION: This RE-AIM evaluation provides lessons learned and strategies for future adoption, implementation, and maintenance of an aging-focused facilitated peer mentorship program. J Am Geriatr Soc 67:804-810, 2019.

Technology Access, Technical Assistance, and Disparities in Inpatient Portal Use.

BACKGROUND: Disadvantaged populations, including minorities and the elderly, use patient portals less often than relatively more advantaged populations. Limited access to and experience with technology contribute to these disparities. Free access to devices, the Internet, and technical assistance may eliminate disparities in portal use. OBJECTIVE: To examine predictors of frequent versus infrequent portal use among hospitalized patients who received free access to an iPad, the Internet, and technical assistance. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This subgroup analysis includes 146 intervention-arm participants from a pragmatic randomized controlled trial of an inpatient portal. The participants received free access to an iPad and inpatient portal while hospitalized on medical and surgical cardiac units, together with hands-on help using them. We used logistic regression to identify characteristics predictive of frequent use. RESULTS: More technology experience (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 5.39, p = 0.049), less severe illness (adjusted OR = 2.07, p = 0.077), and private insurance (adjusted OR = 2.25, p = 0.043) predicted frequent use, with a predictive performance (area under the curve) of 65.6%. No significant differences in age, gender, race, ethnicity, level of education, employment status, or patient activation existed between the frequent and infrequent users in bivariate analyses. Significantly more frequent users noticed medical errors during their hospital stay. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Portal use was not associated with several sociodemographic characteristics previously found to limit use in the inpatient setting. However, limited technology experience and high illness severity were still barriers to frequent use. Future work should explore additional strategies, such as enrolling health care proxies and improving usability, to reduce potential disparities in portal use.

Examining Interventions Designed to Support Shared Decision Making and Subsequent Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care: A Systematic Review of the Literature.

BACKGROUND:: Shared decision making (SDM) is a key attribute of patient-centered care, which empowers palliative care patients to be able to make optimal medical decisions about end-of-life treatments based on their own values and preferences. AIM:: The aim of this systematic literature review is to detail and compare interventions supporting SDM over the last 10 years (January 2008 to December 2017) and to analyze patient/caregiver outcomes at the end of life. METHODS:: This review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. PubMed, CINAHL, Embase, and Cochrane Library were searched with key search terms: SDM, decision aid, decision support, palliative care, and hospice care. The Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool was used to assess the quality of the included studies. RESULTS:: The initial search yielded 2705 articles, and 12 studies were included in the final review. The quality of the studies was modest and technology-enabled delivery modes (e.g., video, DVD, web-based tool) were most commonly used. Patient/caregiver knowledge of end-of-life care was the most common primary outcome across studies. The strength of the association between the SDM interventions and patient/caregiver outcomes varied. CONCLUSION:: The findings from the studies that examined the effects of the SDM intervention on patient outcomes were inconsistent, highlighting the need for further SDM intervention studies among diverse patient populations using consistent measures. Given the availability of health technologies, future studies should focus on developing individual-tailored, technology-enabled interventions to support patient-centered medical decision making.