Use of the Electronic Medical Record to Screen Code Status Preference Using Death Language

NCT07405710 | Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: Pro2025000307
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 118
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

In order to systematically improve code status communication and documentation while clarifying how providers understand code status decisions, we propose the Choice of Diction's Effect Electronic Measures of Resuscitation Study Inpatient (CODE-EMRS.I) with 3 aims: Aim 1 - Determine rate of patient utilization of code status invitation (research) via the Portal (Hypothesis 1: Participants with an existing Portal are more likely to participate in research than new signups); Aim 2 - Evaluate different phrasings in code status prompts with and without death language (Hypothesis 2: Participants are more likely to pick no code with death language than without); Aim 3 - Determine how objective data drives physician agreement on code status decision (Hypothesis 3: Physicians are more likely to disagree with full code decisions for poor GO-FAR, but not CCI). Participants will fill out all study questionnaires electronically, but have options within these to ask to speak to a study physician/their own physician for clarification. After completing the surveys, the research associate will deliver the patient's code status decision to the attending of record and ask their views on it. Once a week, participants who have expressed interest in the study (by clicking the "I am interested" button) but have not completed the study will receive a reminder to complete the study as well as an offer to withdraw from the study in that same communication.

Conditions

Code Status Discussions With Medical In-patients

Keywords

Code status; CPR; EMR; Death language

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Code status decision

  At enrollment

• Physician of record decision for and agreement with code status

  Within 24 hours of patient decision

Study Arms (2)

Experimental/Death language

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants will be asked: The purpose of this trial is to understand how the words we use to describe CPR affect patient decisions. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is performed when the heart stops beating. It consists of electric shocks to the heart, pumping the chest to circulate blood, and using a breathing machine to help with breathing. The success rate of CPR is about 1 in 7, and even when the heart restarts, the brain and other organs can be damaged. If your heart were to stop beating and you were to die without resuscitation, would you prefer that we attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), or would you prefer that we do not resuscitate (DNR)?

Behavioral: Death language

Standard/non-death language

NO INTERVENTION

Participants will be asked: The purpose of this trial is to understand how the words we use to describe CPR affect patient decisions. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is performed when the heart stops beating. It consists of electric shocks to the heart, pumping the chest to circulate blood, and using a breathing machine to help with breathing. The success rate of CPR is about 1 in 7, and even when the heart restarts, the brain and other organs can be damaged. If your heart were to stop beating, would you prefer that we attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), or would you prefer that we do not resuscitate (DNR)?

Interventions

Death language BEHAVIORAL

We will explicitly mention death when letting the participant know about CPR

Experimental/Death language

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 65 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Age \>65, English-fluency in reading and speaking, and the capacity to consent

You may not qualify if:

• Requiring ICU-level care

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey: lead

Study Sites (1)

Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital - New Brunswick

New Brunswick, New Jersey, 08901, United States

RECRUITING

Study Officials

• Karthik J Kota, MD MPH

  Assistant Professor of Medicine

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Central Study Contacts

Karthik J Kota, MD MPH

CONTACT

732-235-7112; karthik.kota@rutgers.edu

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Assistant Professor of Medicine

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: February 5, 2026
• First Posted: February 12, 2026
• Study Start: February 9, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): June 30, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): June 30, 2027
• Last Updated: February 12, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-02

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)