Inpatient Palliative Care for Patients Undergoing Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation

The Participant has a type of blood cancer and will be undergoing stem cell transplantation.
Frequently people undergoing stem cell transplantation experience physical and emotional
symptoms during the course of their hospitalization for stem cell transplantation. These can
be very distressing to both patient and the family members. The study doctors want to know if
the early introduction of a team of clinicians that specialize in the lessening (palliation)
of many of these distressing symptoms may improve the participant overall care.

This team of clinicians is called the palliative care team and they focus on ways to improve
the participant pain and other symptom management (nausea, fatigue, shortness of breath,
anxiety, etc.) and to assist the participant and the participant's family in coping with the
emotional and social issues associated with your diagnosis. The team consists of physicians
and advance practice nurses who have been specially trained in the care of patients facing
serious illness.

The main purpose of this study is to compare two types of care - standard transplant oncology
care and standard transplant oncology care with early involvement of palliative care
clinicians to see which is better for improving the experience of patients and families with
blood cancers undergoing stem cell transplantation.

The purpose of this research study is to find out whether introducing patients and families
undergoing stem cell transplantation to the palliative care team that specializes in symptom
management can improve the physical and psychological symptoms that patients and families
experience during hospitalization for stem cell transplantation.

The study will use a series of questionnaires to measure the participant and the participant
's caregivers' quality of life, physical symptoms, and mood. Study questionnaires will be
completed in the hospital or clinic with assistance provided as need.

Inclusion Criteria:

Patient Inclusion Criteria

- adult patients (≥ 18 years) with hematologic malignancy admitted for autologous or
allogeneic HCT.

- ability to read and respond to questions in English or Spanish or to complete
questionnaires with assistance from an interpreter.

Caregiver Eligibility Criteria:

- adult (≥ 18 years) relative or a friend of a patient who agrees to participate in the
study whom the patient identified as living with them or having in-person contact with
him or her at least twice per week.

- ability to read and respond to questions in English or Spanish or to complete
questionnaires with the assistance of an interpreter.

Exclusion Criteria:

Patient Exclusion Criteria

- Patients undergoing HCT for benign hematologic conditions

- Patients undergoing outpatient HCT.

- Patients with psychiatric or cognitive conditions which the treating clinicians
believes prohibits compliance with study procedures