Scholars@Duke
Jessica Ma

Jessica Ma

Assistant Professor of Medicine
Medicine, Geriatrics and Palliative Care

Selected Publications

Machine Learning for Targeted Advance Care Planning in Cancer Patients: A Quality Improvement Study.

Journal Article J Pain Symptom Manage · December 2024 CONTEXT: Prognostication challenges contribute to delays in advance care planning (ACP) for patients with cancer near the end of life (EOL). OBJECTIVES: Examine a quality improvement mortality prediction algorithm intervention's impact on ACP documentation ... Full text Link to item Cite

Communication processes in an advance care planning initiative: A socio-ecological perspective for service evaluation.

Journal Article Palliat Med · September 10, 2024 BACKGROUND: Advance care planning initiatives are becoming more widespread, increasing expectations for providers to engage in goals of care conversations. However, less is known about how providers communicate advance care planning within and throughout a ... Full text Link to item Cite

A stepped wedge cluster randomized trial to evaluate the effectiveness of a multisite family caregiver skills training program.

Journal Article Health Serv Res · August 13, 2024 OBJECTIVE: To assess the effects of an evidence-based family caregiver training program (implementation of Helping Invested Families Improve Veteran Experiences Study [iHI-FIVES]) in the Veterans Affairs healthcare system on Veteran days not at home and fa ... Full text Link to item Cite

Trajectories of Physical Resilience Among Older Veterans With Stage 4 CKD.

Journal Article Am J Kidney Dis · August 2024 RATIONALE & OBJECTIVE: Although functional impairment is common among older adults with chronic kidney disease (CKD), functional reserve before an acute health event and physical resilience after the event have not been characterized in this population. Th ... Full text Link to item Cite

Do goals of care documentation reflect the conversation?: Evaluating conversation-documentation accuracy.

Journal Article J Am Geriatr Soc · August 2024 BACKGROUND: Documenting goals of care in the electronic health record is meant to relay patient preferences to other clinicians. Evaluating the content and documentation of nurse and social worker led goals of care conversations can inform future goals of ... Full text Link to item Cite

Factors Associated With Hospital Admission in the Last Month: A Retrospective Single Center Analysis.

Journal Article J Pain Symptom Manage · June 2024 CONTEXT: Driven by concerns about care quality, patient experience, and national metrics, health systems are increasingly focusing on identifying risk factors for patients who are hospitalized in the last month of life. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate patient facto ... Full text Link to item Cite

Internal Medicine Resident Barriers to Advance Care Planning in the Primary Care Continuity Clinic.

Journal Article Am J Hosp Palliat Care · November 2023 Background: While primary care providers regularly engage in Advance Care Planning (ACP) conversations, it is not well known what challenges resident physicians face to achieving this core competency. Objectives: We aimed to assess resident perceptions of ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Phenotypes of Symptom, Function, and Medication Burden in Older Adults with Nondialysis Advanced Kidney Disease.

Journal Article Kidney360 · October 1, 2023 KEY POINTS: There are three distinct classes of symptoms, functional impairment, and medication burden among older adults with advanced kidney disease. One class with Complex Needs with pain and psychological symptoms, functional difficulties, and polyphar ... Full text Link to item Cite

Videoconferencing of Movement-Based and Psychologically Informed Interventions for Chronic Pain: A Systematic Review and Horizon Scan.

Journal Article Telemed J E Health · September 2023 Introduction: With the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, use of telehealth technology increased dramatically. Nonpharmacological approaches to pain management may be well suited for virtual care. Yet, it is not widely understood if this treatme ... Full text Link to item Cite

The Use of Templates for Documenting Advance Care Planning Conversations: A Descriptive Analysis.

Journal Article J Pain Symptom Manage · August 2023 CONTEXT: While professional societies and expert panels have recommended quality indicators related to advance care planning (ACP) documentation, including using structured documentation templates, it is unclear how clinicians document these conversations. ... Full text Link to item Cite

Using Design Thinking to Promote Goals of Care Conversations With Seriously Ill Patients.

Journal Article J Pain Symptom Manage · August 2023 BACKGROUND: Goals of care (GOC) conversations can improve serious illness outcomes such as pain and symptom management and patient satisfaction. PROBLEM: However, we recognized that very few Duke Health patients who died had a GOC conversation documented i ... Full text Link to item Cite

Provider Interaction With an Electronic Health Record Notification to Identify Eligible Patients for a Cluster Randomized Trial of Advance Care Planning in Primary Care: Secondary Analysis.

Journal Article J Med Internet Res · May 12, 2023 BACKGROUND: Advance care planning (ACP) improves patient-provider communication and aligns care to patient values, preferences, and goals. Within a multisite Meta-network Learning and Research Center ACP study, one health system deployed an electronic heal ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Clinician Perspectives on Managing Chronic Pain After Curative-Intent Cancer Treatment.

Journal Article JCO Oncol Pract · April 2023 PURPOSE: Among cancer survivors who have completed curative-intent treatment, the high prevalence and adverse consequences of chronic pain are well documented. Yet, research on clinicians' experiences with and perspectives on managing chronic pain among ca ... Full text Link to item Cite

Top Ten Tips Palliative Care Clinicians Should Know About Caring for Chinese American Patients.

Journal Article J Palliat Med · March 2023 The Chinese American population is one of the fastest-growing communities in the United States, composed of ∼5.4 million people, and represents ∼5.5% of overseas Chinese populations. With an expected exponential population rise, Chinese American patients w ... Full text Link to item Cite

Trajectories of Palliative Care Needs in the ICU and Long-Term Psychological Distress Symptoms.

Journal Article Crit Care Med · January 1, 2023 OBJECTIVES: While palliative care needs are assumed to improve during ICU care, few empiric data exist on need trajectories or their impact on long-term outcomes. We aimed to describe trajectories of palliative care needs during ICU care and to determine i ... Full text Link to item Cite

Goal-Concordant Care: End-of-Life Planning Conversations for All Seriously Ill Patients.

Journal Article NEJM Catalyst Innovations in Care Delivery · November 16, 2022 Substantial evidence indicates that goals-of-care (GOC) conversations in the setting of serious illness can improve a variety of health outcomes. However, only 3% of seriously ill Duke Health patients who died had goals of care documented in the electronic ... Full text Cite

Palliative care phenotypes among critically ill patients and family members: intensive care unit prospective cohort study.

Journal Article BMJ Support Palliat Care · September 27, 2022 OBJECTIVE: Because the heterogeneity of patients in intensive care units (ICUs) and family members represents a challenge to palliative care delivery, we aimed to determine if distinct phenotypes of palliative care needs exist. METHODS: Prospective cohort ... Full text Link to item Cite

Assessing Quality in Advance Care Planning Documentation: A Survey of Current Methods.

Journal Article Am J Hosp Palliat Care · August 2022 BACKGROUND: High-quality advance care planning (ACP) documentation facilitates the communication of patients' wishes as they progress in their disease course and travel between health care settings. No consensus exists regarding evaluation of documentation ... Full text Link to item Cite

Identifying Family and Unpaid Caregivers in Electronic Health Records: Descriptive Analysis.

Journal Article JMIR Form Res · July 18, 2022 BACKGROUND: Most efforts to identify caregivers for research use passive approaches such as self-nomination. We describe an approach in which electronic health records (EHRs) can help identify, recruit, and increase diverse representations of family and ot ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Promoting timely goals of care conversations between gynecologic cancer patients at high-risk of death and their providers.

Journal Article Gynecol Oncol · February 2022 OBJECTIVE: We designed a multi-faceted intervention to increase the rate of outpatient goals of care (GOC) conversations in women with gynecologic cancers who are at high-risk of death. METHODS AND MATERIALS: A multidisciplinary team developed an education ... Full text Link to item Cite

The potential of mHealth for older adults on dialysis and their care partners: What's been done and where do we go from here?

Journal Article Front Nephrol · 2022 Self-care, or the dynamic, daily process of becoming actively involved in one's own care, is paramount to prevent and manage complications of end-stage kidney disease. However, many older dialysis patients face distinctive challenges to adequate engagement ... Full text Link to item Cite

Exploring expanded interdisciplinary roles in goals of care conversations in a national goals of care initiative: A qualitative approach.

Journal Article Palliat Med · September 2021 BACKGROUND: The United States Veterans Health Administration National Center for Ethics in Health Care implemented the Life-Sustaining Treatment Decisions Initiative throughout the Veterans Health Administration health care system in 2017. This policy enco ... Full text Link to item Cite

Combining Multiple Decedent Data Sources for a Population-Based Picture of End-of-Life Healthcare Utilization.

Journal Article J Pain Symptom Manage · September 2021 CONTEXT: Although health systems need to track utilization and mortality, it can be difficult to obtain reliable information on patients who die outside of the health system. This leads to missing data and introduces the potential for bias. OBJECTIVES: To ... Full text Link to item Cite

Advance care planning billing practices and documentation quality for cancer patients requiring hospitalization.

Conference Journal of Clinical Oncology · May 20, 2021 e24000 Background: Advance Care Planning (ACP) is an important component of comprehensive cancer care, yet barriers exist to successful implementation. In 2016, Medicare introduced billing codes to provide reimbursement for ACP d ... Full text Cite

BILLING PRACTICES FOR ADVANCE CARE PLANNING AT AN ACADEMIC INSTITUTION

Conference JOURNAL OF GENERAL INTERNAL MEDICINE · 2021 Cite

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Journal Article Crit Care Med · April 2020 Full text Link to item Cite

Early Palliative Care Consultation in the Medical ICU: A Cluster Randomized Crossover Trial.

Journal Article Crit Care Med · December 2019 OBJECTIVES: To assess the impact of early triggered palliative care consultation on the outcomes of high-risk ICU patients. DESIGN: Single-center cluster randomized crossover trial. SETTING: Two medical ICUs at Barnes Jewish Hospital. PATIENTS: Patients (n ... Full text Link to item Cite

Birth cohort screening for chronic hepatitis during colonoscopy appointments.

Journal Article Am J Gastroenterol · June 2013 OBJECTIVES: More than 70% of infections with hepatitis C viruses (HCV) occur among people born between 1945 and 1965 (baby boomers). The US Centers for Disease Control estimate that 70% of people with chronic hepatitis are not aware that they are infected ... Full text Link to item Cite