Clinical trial · Interventional
Nurse-initiated Conversations for Early Integration of Palliative Care in Pediatric Oncology
Facilitating Early Integration of Palliative Care in Pediatric Oncology: Development and Implementation of a Nurse-initiated Conversation Program for Pediatric Cancer Patients and Their Families
- Source
- ClinicalTrials.gov
- Retrieved
- Sep 8, 2026
- Layer
- normalized (units and labels harmonized; values unchanged)
- Run
- ING-CLINICALTRIALS-20260908-000001
Summary
Brief summary (as posted)
This study aims to develop and implement a pediatric palliative care (PPC) program. It is an open-label, randomized trial (2:1 randomization) in pediatric oncology department of Children's Hospital of Fudan University. The intervention group will receive Nurse-initiated Conversations for Early Integration of Palliative Care in Pediatric Oncology (NiCE). The control group will receive routine PPC (will be scheduled to meet with the PPC team only when participants themselves, their families, or the attending oncologist requested an appointment). The intervention will take 6 months.
Conditions
Conditions (2)
Free-text conditions as registered, with the CancerIndex entity they were reconciled to and the match type.
| Condition (as posted) | Mapped entity | Match | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hematological Malignancies | Hematopoietic and Lymphoid Cell Neoplasm | PROBABILISTIC | 0.70 |
| Solid Tumor | Solid Neoplasm | CURATED_BROADER | 0.80 |
Interventions
Interventions (2)
| Intervention | Type | Mapped drug | Match |
|---|---|---|---|
| NiCE | Behavioral | — | UNRESOLVED |
| Routine PPC | Other | — | UNRESOLVED |
Design
Arms and outcomes
Arms (2)
- type
- EXPERIMENTAL
- label
- Nurse-initiated conversations for early integration of palliative care (NiCE)
- description
- Participants will receive nurse-initiated conversations facilitating early integration of palliative care in pediatric oncology.
- interventionNames
- Behavioral: NiCE
- type
- OTHER
- label
- Routine PPC
- description
- Participants will be scheduled to meet with the PPC team only when participants themselves, their families, or the attending oncologist requested an appointment.
- interventionNames
- Other: Routine PPC
Primary outcomes (1)
- measure
- Scores of children's quality of life
Eligibility
Eligibility (as posted)
- Sex
- All
- Maximum age
- 18 Years
Show eligibility criteria text
Inclusion Criteria: * Children within eight weeks of initial oncologic diagnosis or within eight weeks of relapse/recurrent disease diagnosis * Children speaking Chinese * Children's family caregivers accompanying the child in the hospital (only one family member is eligible to take this role under current hospital policy) * Children's family caregivers speaking Chinese * Health care providers who are taking care of the eligible children, including but not limited to physicians, nurses, and social workers Exclusion Criteria: \- Children who, in the opinion of their physician, are not capable mentally or verbally of participating in the survey or interview
References
Publications (8)
- BACKGROUNDSchmidt P, Otto M, Hechler T, Metzing S, Wolfe J, Zernikow B. Did increased availability of pediatric palliative care lead to improved palliative care outcomes in children with cancer? J Palliat Med. 2013 Sep;16(9):1034-9. doi: 10.1089/jpm.2013.0014. Epub 2013 Jul 31. PMID 23901834
- BACKGROUNDSnaman J, McCarthy S, Wiener L, Wolfe J. Pediatric Palliative Care in Oncology. J Clin Oncol. 2020 Mar 20;38(9):954-962. doi: 10.1200/JCO.18.02331. Epub 2020 Feb 5. PMID 32023163
- BACKGROUNDHaun MW, Estel S, Rucker G, Friederich HC, Villalobos M, Thomas M, Hartmann M. Early palliative care for adults with advanced cancer. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2017 Jun 12;6(6):CD011129. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD011129.pub2. PMID 28603881
- BACKGROUNDMahmood LA, Casey D, Dolan JG, Dozier AM, Korones DN. Feasibility of Early Palliative Care Consultation for Children With High-Risk Malignancies. Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2016 Aug;63(8):1419-22. doi: 10.1002/pbc.26024. Epub 2016 May 3. PMID 27148856
- BACKGROUNDNeuburg L. Early Initiation of Pediatric Palliative Care. J Pediatr Health Care. 2021 Jan-Feb;35(1):114-119. doi: 10.1016/j.pedhc.2020.05.006. Epub 2020 Jul 10. PMID 32660809
- BACKGROUNDLafond DA, Kelly KP, Hinds PS, Sill A, Michael M. Establishing Feasibility of Early Palliative Care Consultation in Pediatric Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation. J Pediatr Oncol Nurs. 2015 Sep-Oct;32(5):265-77. doi: 10.1177/1043454214563411. Epub 2015 Jan 23. PMID 25616372
- BACKGROUNDLevine DR, Johnson LM, Snyder A, Wiser RK, Gibson D, Kane JR, Baker JN. Integrating Palliative Care in Pediatric Oncology: Evidence for an Evolving Paradigm for Comprehensive Cancer Care. J Natl Compr Canc Netw. 2016 Jun;14(6):741-8. doi: 10.6004/jnccn.2016.0076. PMID 27283167