Few of the 20 million older adults who undergo elective surgical procedures in the United States each year engage in advance care planning. I CAN DO Surgical ACP, an NIH Collaboratory Trial, aims to address this missed opportunity to align older patients’ preferences with their surgical decisions and improve patient-clinician communications.
We spoke with co–principal investigator Elizabeth Wick about the I CAN DO Surgical ACP trial at the NIH Collaboratory’s 2024 Annual Steering Committee Meeting.
“We’re really hoping that our trial will open the door to more team-based care in surgery,” Wick said.
Wick is a professor of surgery and the vice chair of quality and safety in the Department of Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco, and cochair of the department’s research committee.
The I CAN DO Surgical ACP trial will will test a system-based approach to help older adults undergoing elective surgery engage in advance care planning. Another goal of the study is to understand digital engagement, language, and social drivers of health that drive engagement in the intervention. The study is supported by the National Institute on Aging.