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Randomised controlled trial of a new palliative care service: Compliance, recruitment and completeness of follow-up by Irene J Higginson; Sam Hart; Rachel Burman; Eli Silber; Tariq Saleem; Polly Edmonds is a Medicine article available to read on EtoBox.

What is Randomised controlled trial of a new palliative care service: Compliance, recruitment and completeness of follow-up about?

## Background Palliative care has been proposed for progressive non-cancer conditions but there have been few evaluations of service developments. We analysed recruitment, compliance and follow-up data of a fast track (or wait list control) randomised controlled trial of a new palliative care service – a design not previously used to assess palliative care. ## Methods/Design An innovative palliative care service (comprising a consultant in palliative medicine, a clinical nurse specialist, an administrator and a psychosocial worker) was delivered to people severely affected by multiple sclerosis (MS), and their carers, in southeast London. Our design followed the MRC Framework for the Evaluation of Complex Interventions. In phase II we conducted randomised controlled trial, of immediate referral to the service (fast-track) versus a 12-week wait (standard best practice). Main outcome measures were: compliance (the extent the trial protocol was adhered to), recruitment (target 50 patients), attrition and missing data rates; trial outcomes were Palliative Care Outcome Scale and MS Impact Scale. ## Results 69 patients were referred, 52 entered the trial (26 randomised to each arm), 5 re

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Author

Irene J Higginson; Sam Hart; Rachel Burman; Eli Silber; Tariq Saleem; Polly Edmonds

Publisher

BioMed Central; Springer (Biomed Central Ltd.); London: BioMed Central, 2002-; Springer Science and Business Media LLC; Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration Inc. (ISSN 1472-684X)

Published

2008

Language

EN

Field

Medicine (Health Sciences)