Clinical trialNACompleted
Pilot Trial of Virtual and In-person STEP2
Single Arm Pilot Trial of Virtual and In-person Symptom Screening With Targeted Early Palliative Care (STEP2)
- Outcome
- Finished, no results posted
- Phase
- NA
- Status
- Completed
- Study type
- Interventional
- Start
- 27 March 2025
- Expected end
- 11 December 2025
- Enrollment
- 40 participants
- Sites
- 1
- Primary outcomes
- FACIT-PAL 14
- Sponsor
- Other
- Results posted
- No
- Last update
- 30 January 2026
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Brief summary public domain (ClinicalTrials.gov)
The goal of this clinical trial is to assess the feasibility of offering oncology patients a referral to the outpatient palliative care clinic based on virtual symptom screening before oncology clinic appointments, and to qualitatively explore factors patients consider when deciding to accept or defer a visit to this clinic. Participants will be asked to complete questionnaires assessing quality of life, symptom burden, depression, anxiety, and satisfaction with care at baseline, 2, 4, and 6 months.
Detailed description public domain (ClinicalTrials.gov)
To improve equitable access to early palliative care based on symptom severity, the investigators developed Symptom screening with Targeted Early Palliative care (STEP) and demonstrated its feasibility in a previous trial. STEP was designed and tested before the COVID-19 pandemic and was based on symptom screening using tablets/computers in oncology clinics and in-person visits in the palliative care clinic. In response to changes in hospital care as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the investigators developed a novel, mixed in-person and virtually delivered intervention, STEP2. The investigators propose to test STEP2 in a single-arm pilot trial, enrolling outpatients with advanced cancer and a prognosis of 6 months to 3 years. Participants will complete the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System-revised (ESAS-r+) tool electronically before oncology appointments (as is usual care in Ontario, Canada); in addition, if patients report moderate to high symptom scores, they will receive nurse-led triage and targeted referral to specialized palliative care. Quality of life, symptom burden, depression, anxiety and satisfaction with care will be assessed at baseline, 2, 4, and 6 months using questionnaires. The objectives of this study are 1) to assess the feasibility of the STEP2 intervention, including completion of virtual symptom screening before oncology clinic appointments and completing triggered palliative care visits by video as well as in person; and 2) to explore factors patients consider when deciding to accept or defer a visit to the outpatient palliative care clinic.