N/A N=6,066 Health Services Research

Intervention to Improve Care at Life's End

Death · Pain · Dyspnea

Bottom Line

View on ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT00234286 ↗

Enrolled (actual)

6,066

Serious AEs

—

Results posted

Apr 2015

Primary outcome: Primary: Presence of Order for Opioid Pain Medication — 2004; 2056 participants — p=.009

Study Design & Population

Study type: Interventional
Phase: N/A
Interventions: Comfort care education intervention (Behavioral)
Age: Pediatric, Adult, Older Adult
Sex: All
Sponsor: US Department of Veterans Affairs
Primary completion: Mar 2011

Outcome Measures

Outcome	Result	p-value
PRIMARY Presence of Order for Opioid Pain Medication	2004; 2056	.009 sig
SECONDARY Do Not Resuscitate Order	2282; 2127	0.09
SECONDARY Number of Patients Who Died in ICU	1312; 1046	0.69
SECONDARY Individuals With a Nasogastric Tube	1293; 922	.03 sig
SECONDARY Individuals With an Intravenous Line	2004; 2056	0.15
SECONDARY Number of Individuals Who Died in Restraints	531; 362	0.86
SECONDARY Individuals Administered of Opioid Medication	1569; 1662	0.09
SECONDARY Individuals With an Order for Antipsychotic Medication	336; 661	0.01 sig
SECONDARY Individuals Administered Antipsychotic Medication	224; 280	0.36
SECONDARY Individuals With an Order for Benzodiazepine Medication	1102; 1185	0.01 sig
SECONDARY Individuals Who Received Benzodiazepine Medication	710; 675	0.76
SECONDARY Individuals Who Received Scopolamine	113; 633	.004 sig
SECONDARY Sublingual Administration	122; 322	0.007 sig
SECONDARY Individuals With Pastoral Care Visit	1630; 1765	0.14
SECONDARY Individuals With an Advance Directive	1194; 1306	.003 sig
SECONDARY Individuals With a Palliative Care Consultation	184; 885	0.19

Summary

The BEACON trial (Best Practices for End-of-Life Care for Our Nations' Veterans) was a six-site implementation study to evaluate a multi-component, education-based intervention to improve the quality of end-of-life care provided in VA Medical Centers.

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

Aim 1: Not applicable. Patients were deceased.
Aim 2: After-death interviews with next of kin: must be willing and able to participate in after-death interview at local VA Medical Center.

Exclusion Criteria

N/A

View full record on ClinicalTrials.gov →

Data sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT00234286). Outcome figures and adverse-event rates are extracted automatically from the registry's posted results and are provided for clinician reference, not as a substitute for the primary publication.