Black Americans are more likely than whites to choose aggressive medical care at the end of life. We present a retrospective cohort study of 2843 patients who received a counselor-based palliative care consultation at a large US southeastern hospital. Before the palliative consultation, 72.8% of the patients had no restrictions in care, and only 4.6% had chosen care and comfort only (CCO). After the consult, these choices dramatically changed, with only 17.5% remaining full code and 43.3% choosing CCO. Both before and after palliative consultation, blacks chose more aggressive medical care than whites, but racial differences diminished after the counselor-based consultation. Both African American and white patients and families receiving a counselor-based palliative consultation in the hospital make profound changes in their preferences for life-sustaining treatments.

The model has the counselor at the heart of the team, keeping the communication open and flowing. The Transitions and Palliative Care Therapy Model has become an accepted standard of practice at Medical Center of Central Georgia and continues to be a successful means of managing the most complex cases in the hospital.

Background Patients with heart failure (HF) must understand subtle escalation in fatigue, dyspnea, and edema before they are triggered to control worsening status. Objective The aim of this paper is to examine if video education of HF danger signs or symptoms recognition and control, developed using symbolic modeling (social cognitive theory), leads to between-group differences in functional status, symptoms, and self-efficacy for managing symptoms at 30-days, all-cause, and HF-related hospitalization, emergency department visits, and death at 30, 90, and 180 days. Methods Using a 2-group, randomized controlled, multicenter, single-blind design, patients received video education (VE) plus usual care (UC) or UC alone before hospital discharge. VE patients also had access to content post discharge. Thirty-day functional status, fatigue, dyspnea, and self-efficacy for managing symptoms were assessed using valid, reliable tools. In the analysis, multivariable models were created to compare changes in patient-reported outcomes from baseline to 30-days post discharge and morbidity or mortality outcomes up to 180 days. Results Of 369 VE and 377 UC patients enrolled from 7 sites, mean age was 68.0 (SD 12.4) years, and 206 (55.9%) were male. At 30 days, there were no between-group differences in the change in functional status, fatigue, dyspnea, and self-efficacy from baseline. In multivariable analyses, between-group outcomes did not differ at 30 or 90 days. At 180 days, HF-related events and HF-related hospitalization were higher in the video group—odds ratios (95% CI): 1.42 (1.04, 1.94), P=.03; and 1.44 (1.05, 1.97), P=.03, respectively. In time-to-event adjusted analyses, video patients had earlier HF-related hospitalization, compared to UC patients—hazard ratio (95% CI) 1.32 (1.02, 1.72), P=.04. Conclusions Video education on recognition and control of danger signs or symptoms paradoxically increased HF-related events and hospitalization and decreased time to first HF-related hospitalization. Increased recognition of subtle HF signs or symptoms via video education is valuable but must be connected to patient or family self-care actions that reduce HF signs or symptoms. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03657459; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03657459 Conflicts of Interest None declared.

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This article explains a hospital palliative model called the Transitions and Palliative Care Therapy (TPCT) and provides data. In addition, the Geriatric Interdisciplinary Team Treatment (GITT) program, using its experience with hospice and research based knowledge, applied key principles of teamwork to enhance the TPCT team approach. GITT was applied to TPCT for 1 year. The TPCT model is a transitions counselors-based model that is a hospital-centered, interdisciplinary consult service, with a focus on the patient and the family. It employs master's level counselors and mid-level providers, with a much smaller group of palliative care physicians who supervise mid-level practitioners and provide medical input and leadership. Outcomes evaluated were hospital cost, family and staff satisfaction, and number of consults that led to de-escalating treatment. In all cases the GITT model was effective; it assisted with improved cost, better satisfaction, and an increased number of consults.