Advanced cancer patients often experience significant physical and emotional symptoms, which can lead to frequent hospital visits and reduced quality of life. Although palliative care can help manage these symptoms and improve well-being, it is often introduced too late.
A proactive symptom monitoring model, SPARKLE-2 aims to identify patients who need palliative care earlier by regularly checking their symptoms using a simple questionnaire. Patients with concerned symptoms will receive timely support from the palliative care team, with the goal of improving their quality of life, reducing unnecessary hospital admissions, and helping more patients receive care in the community rather than in hospital. In the earlier SPARKLE-1 study, it showed the improvement of patients' physical wellbeing. SPARKLE-2 seeks to test the effectiveness among advanced cancer patients with unplanned hospital visits while simultaneously collecting data on real-world implementation.
Inclusion Criteria:
Inclusion criteria for patients:
21 years old or older
Diagnosed of advanced cancer diagnosis, defined as metastatic or recurrent/ progressive Stage III/IV solid tumour
Has an unplanned hospital admission and expected to be discharged home
Able to speak English or Mandarin Chinese or Malay
Able to provide informed consent
Additional inclusion criteria for patient participants of semi-structured interviews are:
Enrolled in the SPARKLE-2 RCT, whether randomized to the SPARKLE intervention or usual care group and regardless of fidelity to trial procedures.
Inclusion criteria for caregivers:
Inclusion criteria for healthcare providers:
Exclusion Criteria:
Exclusion criteria for patients:
Exclusion criteria for caregivers:
1. Unable to complete interviews
Exclusion criteria for healthcare providers:
grace.yang.m.j@singhealth.com.sg
Participants will receive SPARKLE-2 immediately at bi-weekly interval.
Participants will not receive any study intervention (SPARKLE-2) and will continue to receive their usual care.
jess.ng.h.c@nccs.com.sg
Novel Palliative Care Model for Advanced Cancer Patients: A Randomized Controlled Trial Study
Effectiveness of the Supportive and Palliative Care Review Kit (SPARK) for Cancer Patients in the Acute Hospital
Pilot Study of the SPaRK (Supportive and Palliative Care Review Kit) Model of Care for Advanced Cancer Patients Who Have an Unplanned Admission to Singapore General Hospital
Evaluation and Implementation Preparation of a Proactive Palliative Care Model (ENABLE-SG)
Enabling Symptom Identification and Tracking in Children Receiving Cancer Treatment