Nurses' Competence and Role in Survival Prediction and Prognostic Communication

Official title

Nurses' Competence and Role in Survival Prediction and Prognostic Communication: A Taboo, an Aid, or a Necessity? A Multinational Mixed- Methods Study

Overview

\[Background\] Nurses' roles in survival prediction and prognostic communication have historically been limited due to role delineation, lack of formal training, and cultural norms. In Taiwan and other cultural contexts, prognostic discussions have traditionally been the purview of physicians. However, evolving paradigms in health communication, practical realities in nursing practice, and the expanded responsibilities of advanced practice nurses have highlighted the importance of nurses in this domain. Nurses frequently engage in "foreseeing" prognostic indicators through daily patient care, and emerging evidence suggests their prognostic accuracy is often comparable to or exceeds that of physicians. Despite this, the exact scope of nurses' roles in prognostication remains unclear, creating gaps in understanding the contributions, benefits, and associating factors of nurses' involvement of prognostication process. \[Aim\] This mixed-methods study aims to examine hospice nurses' competencies and roles in prognostication, with a focus on their survival prediction accuracy, confidence, influencing factors, and self-perceived responsibilities. \[Method\] This three-year, cross-national study adopts an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design. First, the quantitative phase utilizes a prospective cohort design, recruiting palliative nurses and physicians from ten palliative care sites across three countries. Eligible clinicians include nurses and physicians who provide care for patients with advanced cancer in palliative care settings or oncologic wards. Participating clinicians will provide weekly prognostic predictions for targeted patients and rate their confidence levels. Patients' demographic and disease-related information will also be collected to estimate survival using prediction tools. Data collection will conclude upon the patient's death or discharge. Based on the results of the quantitative phase, a descriptive qualitative study will be conducted to purposefully recruit nurses with varying levels of prediction accuracy and confidence from the quantitative phase. Semi-structured interviews will be carried out to gather qualitative data on their perspectives regarding prognostication, with a particular focus on their roles. The estimated sample size for quantitative phase is 152 nurse-physician dyads (based on 152 patients), while 20-30 nurses are expected to participate in the qualitative phase. \[Data Analysis\] Descriptive statistics, area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC), Cohen's kappa, weighted kappa, McNemar's test, and ordinal logistic regression will be used to analyze quantitative data. Qualitative data will be analyzed using conventional content analysis. Nurses' Competence and Role in Survival Prediction and Prognostic Communication. \[Expecting Outcomes and Conclusion\] This project uniquely highlights nurses' contributions to prognostication, aiming to generate evidence that informs future research, clinical practice, and policy development. The findings will shed light on nurses' roles, functions, potential benefits, and the barriers the face in prognostication.

Primary outcome measures

• Palliative nurses' accuracy in making survival prediction [Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 2.5 years]
• Palliative nurses' levels of confidence in making prognostic predictions [Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 2.5 years]

Secondary outcome measures (3)

• Relationship between palliative nurses' demographic variables, prognostic confidence, and survival prediction accuracy [Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 2.5 years]
• Palliative nurses' perceptions of their roles in prognostic prediction [Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 2.5 years]
• Themes which affect palliative nurses' prognostic prediction and level of confidence [Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 2.5 years]

Eligibility criteria

Inclusion criteria

\[Inclusion criteria for patients\]

• 18 years old or older
• Diagnosed with advanced solid cancer, including locally extensive or metastasis cancer
• Patients admitted to palliative care units or oncology units in the participating institutions.

\[Inclusion criteria for clinicians\]

• Nurses who are the primary care nurse of the included patients
• Nurses who care for the included patients for at least one shift
• Nurses who work in palliative and hospice units or team, or oncology units for over 6 months.
• Physicians who are palliative care specialists and/or physicians with palliative care trainings
• Physicians who are the primary care physician of the included patient.

Exclusion criteria

• Patients with hematological malignancies are excluded.
• A participated clinicians can only participate in the study up to three times, clinicians who participate in the study for more than three times are excluded.

Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.

Healthy volunteers: Yes

Study design

Observational model

Cohort

Study locations

Center list to be confirmed — check the primary protocol.

Identifiers

NCT: NCT06962553 · 202501114RINE

Primary sources (government registries)

• ClinicalTrials.gov (US NIH)

View this study on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗