HIGHway
HIGHway Project: Honoring Individual Goals and Hopes: Implementing Advance Care Planning for Persons With Kidney Disease on Dialysis
Sponsor study identifier
Secondary identifiers
OTHER_GRANT · PCORI
observational
55
1 country
3
Study Start
September 1, 2021
Actual (reported)Primary Completion
May 31, 2024
Actual (reported)Study Completion
July 31, 2024
Actual (reported)The PCORI HIGHway project name embodies its goal: the way to "Honor Individuals Goals and Hopes". HIGHway trains and supports dialysis center social workers and nurses to communicate with their patients about their hopes and goals for their future care plans. This process, known as advance care planning (ACP), helps relieve patient concerns about the future, lays the foundation for better goal-concordant care at the end of life, and fosters deeper connection between patient and the dialysis care team. The HIGHway project will provide training and ongoing coaching to social workers and other change team members at 50-60 dialysis centers throughout the US. The goal is to integrate advance care planning conversations between dialysis patients and their health care team into the ongoing workflow of dialysis centers. The project is funded by the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), a non-profit organization chartered by Congress to fund projects to promote patient-centered care.
Registry-reported information. Elapsed time and enrollment totals alone do not measure study progress or recruitment pace.
July 31, 2024
Actual (reported)Click on a node to explore related trials.
Some registry-reported names shown below are not yet linked in this graph.
Dates and qualifiers reported by the registry. Estimated dates do not confirm that a milestone has occurred.
September 1, 2021
Actual (reported)March 11, 2022
Actual (reported)April 12, 2022
Actual (reported)May 31, 2024
Actual (reported)July 31, 2024
Actual (reported)Advance care conversations attempted, held, documented
Patient/Provider Outcome: Self-report of number of conversations social worker has with dialysis patients Self -report of number of conversations social worker has with dialysis patients.
During the implementation of the project, one report, year 1
Fidelity of ACP conversations per the HIGHway process taught in trainings
Each social worker will record one ACP conversation with a patient and be assessed on their fidelity to the ACP conversation checklist
Through implementation completion, one in year 1
Relevance and Significance of ACP intervention for patients
Survey given to patients after an ACP conversation to assess relevance and significance of the conversation to their care
Through implementation completion, one in year 1
Implementation Outcome: Appropriateness
After finish implementation, one time, year 1
Implementation Outcome: Acceptability
Immediately after finish implementation, one in year 1
Characteristics of HIGHway Approach
Immediately after finish implementation, one in year 1
Feasibility of HIGHway
Immediately after finish implementation, one in year 1
Social workers and nurses working at participating dialysis centers. Dialysis centers will be selected based on demographic data of the center (urbanicity, population served, size of center, patients treated, etc) to provide for diversity of centers participating.
2a. When an advance care planning conversation takes place, social worker/nurse will provide patient with an informational flyer about the HIGHway project and a postcard.
2b. Social worker/nurse will identify one patient willing to have a recording made of advance care planning conversation between social worker/nurse and patient.
Social workers/nurses participants are agreeing to participating in the training program (3 sessions of 2 hours over a period of six weeks - one session every 2 weeks), follow up training sessions (occurring monthly), mentorship calls with social worker faculty on the project team, recording one conversation between social worker and a patient for quality improvement purposes, and completing evaluation of the project interventions (5-minute questionnaire after each education session, 15-minute questionnaire at end of participation in project).
Registry-reported names are shown in full. Names without a link have not yet been matched to a Syfrah profile.
There are three separate study populations for this study, with procedures and instruments specific to the population Population 1: Social workers/nurses and dialysis centers will be selected based on demographic data of the center (urbanicity, population served, size of center, patients treated, etc) to provide for diversity of centers participating. Population 2: Patients receiving care at the dialysis center where participating social worker/nurses works. 2a. When an advance care planning conversation takes place, social worker/nurse will provide patient with an informational flyer about the HIGHway project and a postcard. 2b. Social worker/nurse will identify one patient willing to have a recording made of advance care planning conversation between social worker/nurse and patient.
DaVita World Headquarters
Denver, Colorado, 80202, United States
American Renal Associates LLC Corporate Office
Beverly, Massachusetts, 01915, United States
Fresenius Medical Care Corporate Headquarters
Waltham, Massachusetts, 02451, United States
Rodriguez de Sosa GM, Thamer M, Anderson E, Unruh ML, Lupu DE. Patient-Centered Advance Care Planning in Dialysis: The HIGHWay (Honor Individual Goals and Hopes Way) Initiative. Kidney360. 2025 Apr 25;6(6):957-967. doi: 10.34067/KID.0000000767.
Rodriguez de Sosa G, Nicklas A, Thamer M, Anderson E, Reddy N, Stevelos J, Germain MJ, Unruh ML, Lupu DE. Implementing Advance Care Planning for dialysis patients: HIGHway project. BMC Palliat Care. 2022 Jul 16;21(1):129. doi: 10.1186/s12904-022-01011-5.
Dale Lupu, PhD
George Washington University
55 participants (actual enrollment reported by the registry).
First Submitted
March 11, 2022
First Posted
April 12, 2022
Study Start
September 1, 2021
Actual (reported)Impacts of Training on Effortful Listening
Contact the study team to confirm eligibility.
Primary Completion
May 31, 2024
Actual (reported)Study Completion
July 31, 2024
Actual (reported)Last Updated
November 20, 2024
Record last verified: 2024-11
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Source: ClinicalTrials.gov.
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