Crisis plans facilitated by patient advocates are better than those drawn up by clinicians: results from an RCT

This study compared quality aspects of crisis plans made with the help of a patient advocate (PACP) with those of plans made with the patient's clinician (clinician crisis plan, CCP). Patients were randomized into PACP and CCP conditions. The quality of crisis plan checklist was used to compare quality aspects of PACP and CCP crisis plans. The quality scores were significantly higher in the PACP group than in the CCP group (Cohen's d = 0.78 for the quality checklist total score). Patient advocates may be important to the successful development of crisis plans. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media New York.