RecruitingInterventional

Feasibility and Acceptability of Primary Palliative Care Intervention in Patients Undergoing Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation

NCT ID: NCT06676852Sponsor: Massachusetts General HospitalLast updated: 2026-04-24

Summary

Primary PC - or training HCT clinicians to deliver PC domains as part of routine practice - is an alternative model of supportive care. We have developed Sentinel, a primary PC intervention for HCT clinicians and patients. This study will assess Sentinel's feasibility and acceptability.

Detailed description

Patients hospitalized for hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) experience physical and psychological symptoms that lead to a deterioration in quality of life (QOL). Integrating specialty palliative care (PC) reduces physical and psychological symptom burden and improves QOL during HCT hospitalization. However, specialty PC remains unavailable and underused at many HCT centers. Primary PC - or training HCT clinicians to deliver PC domains as part of routine practice - is an alternative model of supportive care. We have developed Sentinel, a primary PC intervention for HCT clinicians and patients. We will train HCT clinicians to deliver PC to patients before and during HCT hospitalization. This study will assess Sentinel's feasibility and acceptability.

Arms & interventions

BehavioralPrimary palliative care
Enrolled patient participants will receive Sentinel prior to and during their hospitalization for HCT. Prior to HCT, a transplant clinician (nurse practitioner - NP) will conduct a focused PC visit to build rapport, manage expectations regarding HCT, review anticipated symptoms, and discuss illness coping strategies. During the HCT hospitalization, HCT physicians and advanced practice providers will incorporate PC domains into their routine care of patients undergoing HCT.

Outcome measures

Primary

Feasibility
We will assess feasibility of Sentinel based on the proportion of eligible patients who enroll and the proportion of enrolled patients retained. Sentinel will be deemed feasible if at least 60% of eligible patients are enrolled in the study and patient retention through study procedures is at least 80%, commonly utilized metrics in PC trials
Time frame: Up to Day 90

Secondary

Acceptability
Time frame: At Day 30

Eligibility criteria

Sex: AllAge: 18 Years and olderHealthy volunteers: No

Inclusion Criteria: * Age 18 years or older * Undergoing autologous or allogeneic HCT at MGH Exclusion Criteria: * Prior receipt of inpatient specialty palliative care on two prior admissions in the past 6 months. * Significant uncontrolled psychiatric disorders (psychotic disorder, bipolar disorder, major depression) or other co-morbid disease (dementia, cognitive impairment), which the primary oncologist believes prohibits informed consent or ability to participate in study procedures * Inability to comprehend English as this is a preliminary/pilot study

Study locations (1)

Massachusetts General Hospital

Boston, Massachusetts, 02152

Recruiting

Richard A Newcomb, MD · Contact

617-996-7584 richard.newcomb@mgh.harvard.edu

Richard A Newcomb, MD · Principal Investigator