The goal of this research agenda is to improve the quality of end-of-life care by explicitly identifying values that will guide the decision-making process, with a particular emphasis on the role of ethnic, racial and cultural factors.

Background: End-of-life decision-making is an important aspect of providing quality healthcare, especially for the elderly population. Increasingly, the appropriateness of many of these decisions is being questioned. Some invasive procedures done in seriously ill patients do not significantly alter their course, many patients die without having pain or other symptoms addressed, and families may feel dissatisfied with the care provided. Additionally, there are striking racial/ethnic disparities in end-of-life care.

Objectives: The explicit identification of values that guide medical decision-making could improve the decision-making process for end-of-life care for patients of all races/ethnicities. 1) We will directly compare, critically assess, and revise two Values Histories on the basis of qualitative data derived from individual interviews with racially/ethnically diverse patients and surrogates, and explore patients', surrogates', and physicians' values, preferences and concerns that guide decision-making about medical interventions at the end-of-life. 2) We will then adapt the existing Values Histories into a clinically practical tool, the Values Inventory discussion aid. 3) We will conduct preliminary testing of this tool to be used in physician-patient or physician-surrogate encounters to improve and facilitate decisions about end-of-life care.

Methods: To complete Objective 3 we will conduct a pilot randomized trial of the developed Values Inventory discussion aid to test the feasibility of using it in clinical practice. This clinicaltrials.gov number applies to Objective 3 of IIR-02-224 only (as the complete study is a mixed-methods study with several different arms and enrollment goals). Eligible patients are at risk for 6-12-month mortality with one of the following diagnoses: congestive heart failure, with ejection fraction of less than 25%; severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease/emphysema with dependence on oxygen; chronic liver disease with cirrhosis and ascites; colon carcinoma with liver metastases; or non-small cell cancer of the lung, stage III or IV, and patients with chronic kidney disease on renal replacement therapy, with previous hospitalization. All (patient) participants are age 55 years or older and are recruited through the clinics/wards at the Houston VAMC. Surrogates are surrogates of patients with such conditions; physicians are generalists and medical subspecialists. All participants are African American, Hispanic, or White, reflecting the 3 major races/ethnicities at the Houston VAMC.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Eligible patients will be at risk for 6-12 month mortality and have one of the following diagnoses:

  • congestive heart failure, with ejection fraction of <25%;
  • severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease/emphysema with dependence on oxygen;
  • chronic liver disease with cirrhosis and ascites;
  • colon carcinoma with liver metastases; or
  • non-small cell cancer of the lung, stage III or IV
  • chronic kidney disease on renal replacement therapy, with previous hospitalization

• All participants will be age 55 years or older and will be recruited through the clinics at the Houston VAMC.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patients with dementia
• Patients less than 55 years old

There was only a one-time physician-patient encounter for this minimum risk study and any adverse event would have been reported immediately on the day of the encounter. There was no systematic assessment for AE.

No patient reported an adverse event at the time of the study (immediately before/after physician - patient encounter. Nobody reported any adverse events later to study personnel.

Difficulties in recruiting enough surrogates led to abandoning having a surrogate arm.