Compassionate Communication and Advance Care Planning to Improve End of Life Care in Treatment of Hematological Disease (ACT)

Patients diagnosed with hematologic cancer are at substantial risk of dying, as 5-year survival among patients with acute myeloid leukemia is 20 % and only every second patient treated for incurable myeloma lives 5 years after date of diagnosis. Nevertheless, many overestimate their prognosis, and value of therapy. Patients with hematological cancers frequently have poor end of life outcomes, such as high treatment activity close to death, where clinical effects are doubtful, and low utilization of palliative care. Prognostic awareness and end of life (EOL) issues have urgency in the communication between patients, their caregiving relatives, and clinicians, in order to avoid futile treatments and suffering at EOL. Inspired by advanced care planning, the investigators developed the concept "Advance Consultations Concerning participants Life and Treatment" (ACT) in collaboration with a group consisting of hematologists, nurses, patients, and caregivers. The ACT concept consists of an 8-hour training day for clinicians, clinical tools, system changes, and preparation material for patients and caregivers prior to the consultation. ACT involves patients and caregivers earlier in preparation for life with chronic progressive disease and EOL-decisions, through an intervention based on compassionate communication and early planning of EOL-care. The aim of the study is to investigate the effect of the intervention on use of chemotherapy and quality of EOL-care in patients with hematological malignancy. Based on the results of the completed pilot study, the investigators are planning a nationwide 2-arm cluster randomized controlled trial where 40 physicians and 80 nurses across seven different hematological departments are randomized to either usual care or ACT training and completing ACT conversations. The investigators expect to include a total of 400 patients and their family caregivers. It is hypothesized that the ACT intervention will decrease use of futile chemotherapy, prepare patients and caregivers for difficult end-of-life-decisions, and improve quality of end-of-life care in hematology.