Training family doctors to give palliative care to patients with serious long-term illness
Tests a palliative care program delivered by family doctors to adults with advanced chronic illness.
Key facts
- Who runs it
- University of Coimbra
- Where
- Coimbra, PortugalSee the 2 sites
- Trial code
- Registry title
- Primary Palliative Care - a Feasibility Cluster Trial
- Status
- Recruiting
- People taking part
- 30 people, planned
- Started
- 1 Oct 2026
- Expected to end
- 31 Aug 2027
- Type of study
- Interventional, 2 groupsOne group gets no study treatment, for comparison.
- Treatments tested
- Primary Palliative Care Complex Intervention (PrimPal)
- Record updated
- 9 November 2026
Who can take part
AI summary
From the trial's eligibility criteria. Machine-read from the registry text on this page, so it can be wrong. The registry text below and the trial team decide who can take part.
The trial is looking for adults with an advanced long-term illness (advanced cancer, COPD, heart failure or kidney disease) who are patients of a GP in a taking-part Family Health Unit.
- Age
- 18 years or older
- Sex
- All sexes can join
- Disease stage
- Advanced cancer that has spread (metastatic/stage IV); COPD GOLD III or IV; heart failure NYHA III or IV; chronic kidney disease stage IV or V
Main reasons for not taking part
- Refusing to give informed consent or to take part at any point
- Needing urgent medical care at the time of joining (acute crisis or emergency)
The registry criteria, word for word
Show all 9 criteriaShow less
Who can take part
- Aged 18 years or older
- Enrolled as a patient on the list of a recruited General Practitioner in one of the participating Family Health Units
- Diagnosed with one or more of the following advanced chronic conditions:
- Advanced-stage neoplasm (metastatic/stage IV cancer)
- Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) - GOLD classification III or IV
- Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) - New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional classification III or IV
- Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) - stage IV or V
Who cannot take part
- Disease severity requiring urgent medical intervention (acute crisis/emergency care need at time of recruitment)
- Refusal to provide informed consent or to participate in the study at any point
Where in Portugal
- Family Health Unit 1 - ULS Coimbra (Intervention)Coimbra, PortugalContact: Carlos S Cardoso, PhDTaking people
- Family Health Unit 2 - ULS Coimbra (Control)Coimbra, PortugalContact: Carlos S Cardoso, PhDEnrolling by invitation
About the trial
What the trial wants to find out
This feasibility cluster-controlled randomized trial (RCT) evaluates a complex intervention for the delivery of primary palliative care in Family Health Units (FHUs). The intervention consists of training General Practitioners (GPs) in palliative care through a 30 hour e-learning program and implementing a structured consultation model (4 consultations over 12 weeks) for adult patients with advanced chronic illness. One FHU will receive the intervention and one FHU will follow usual care. The primary goal is to assess feasibility metrics (GP adherence, patient recruitment rate, and patient retention rate), which will inform the design of a subsequent full-scale cluster RCT.
The 2 groups in the trial
- Primary Palliative Care ConsultationTreatment being tested
General Practitioners in the intervention FHU complete a 30hour e-learning training programme in palliative care and apply a new structured consultation model over 12 weeks (4 consultations) with recruited patients.
Treatment: Primary Palliative Care Complex Intervention (PrimPal)
- Control (Usual Care)No study treatment, for comparison
GPs in the control FHU deliver usual palliative care without specific training or structured consultation model.
Questions to ask the study team
- How often do I need to come in, and for how long each time?
- Are travel costs paid?
- Can I keep my own doctor?
- What happens if I want to stop?
Contact the study team: see the registry record → Contacts and Locations
Print a page for my doctorData and sources
- Registry record
- Listed on ClinicalTrials.gov.
- Official title
- Primary Palliative Care - a Feasibility Cluster Trial
- Plain-language title
- Training family doctors to give palliative care to patients with serious long-term illnessGenerated from the registry record. The registry title is the official one.
- AI summary
- From the trial's eligibility criteria. Read by machine on 12 November 2026.
- Record updated
- 9 November 2026