Palliative Care Visits in Both Groups
Among 182 patients randomized to the intervention, 164 individuals (90%) received at least 1 palliative care team visit with a mean (SD) of 3.43 (1.70) of the 5 total possible visits during the first 3 months following the operation; mean visit time was 30 (14.2) minutes (range, 5-75 minutes) and the most common visit content involved relationship/rapport building (71.2%), symptom management (66.7%), illness understanding/education (62.4%), and coping with serious illness (61.3%). No harms associated with the inclusion of palliative care specialists were reported by intervention patients, family members, or clinicians. Among 177 patients randomized to the enhanced control group, 20 (11.3%) had a palliative care consultation during the first 3 months following the operation and 5 were referred for hospice care; 1 study site accounted for 17 of these 20 consultations with 21.3% (17 of 80) of enhanced control arm patients at that site receiving palliative care consultation. Other sites had 4.2% (2 of 47), 3.4% (1 of 29), and 0% (0 of 18 and 0 of 3) of enhanced control arm patients receiving palliative care consultation.