Evaluating Palliative Care Needs of Early-Phase Clinical Trial Patients
With the goal of increasing access to palliative care for patients in early-phase clinical trials, authors of an ASCO poster employed a trigger palliative care referral system. Researchers found that although patients in the trials were were younger and had different clinical profiles than non-clinical trial patients, their symptom severity and outcomes were similar. The findings suggest that using trigger referrals to expand access is feasible, without overburdening limited resources.