HEAD study. Hospitalisation: Ethical Aspects of Decision-making v1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Hospitalisation decision-making in Primary Care: How do, and how should clinicians approach decisions regarding hospital admission for those living with frailty or who could be near the end of their life?
IRAS ID
263964
Contact name
Rachel Davies
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Bristol
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 6 months, 1 days
Research summary
This research will explore the process surrounding a hospital admission for those who are frail or may be near the end of their life. It will look at two things in detail:
1. How clinicians (e.g., doctors, nurses, paramedics) think about and weigh up the decision to admit someone to hospital.
2. What a good approach to these decisions might be, and if we can do anything to make it better
This subject is important because a hospital admission for a frail person can sometimes do more harm than good. The problem they are admitted for may not be curable and people can lose significant strength and independence after the admission. It is difficult to know in advance who will or won’t benefit from going to hospital, so clinicians need to think carefully about what to do each time. Sometimes managing a problem at home or in the community might be better, but only if the right support is available. Clinicians and families may feel this involves more risk.
We will observe clinicians while they care for people who may be going to hospital and and try and understand how and why they make decisions. It will focus on clinicians who care for frail people such as visiting in care or / nursing homes, and in urgent and out of hours services.
After this we will use the information we gather to explore patterns in how decisions are made and think about what a good approach might be. We will also consider ideas and findings from previous research to make suggestions about whether, and how, this process could be improved.
It is relevant to this application that the CI (RD) is a palliative care physician who has experience engaging with end of end-of-life decisions, supporting patients and colleagues and dealing with confidential patient information.REC name
London - Camberwell St Giles Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/LO/0586
Date of REC Opinion
14 Aug 2023
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion