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A process evaluation of an outpatient palliative care program: A quality improvement project
(2017-11-28)
Palliative care has evolved from providing care for patients near end-of-life into a specialized discipline focused on addressing the physical, emotional, social, and spiritual needs of patients throughout the trajectory of an illness. For patients with metastatic cancer, timely referrals to palliative care are essential in order to have a meaningful impact on their quality of life. Recommendations for screening patients for palliative care have been offered by professional organizations; however, screening all patients with metastatic cancer poses many challenges. This quality improvement project conducted a process evaluation of an outpatient palliative care program and evaluated the feasibility of utilizing a screening tool in an effort to readily identify patients with metastatic cancer that have palliative care needs in an outpatient cancer center. Although nurses’ compliance with the screening tool was less than expected, screening for palliative care needs in this setting resulted in more referrals to palliative care compared to physician referrals. Improvements in quality of life were found in patients who received a palliative care consultation and patients were very satisfied with the care provided by palliative care. The potential for financial improvements was observed as a result of this project.
Key words: palliative care, metastatic cancer, screening, process evaluation...
Palliative care: Improving eligible patient identification to encourage early intervention
Palliative care (PC) encompasses a holistic way of caring for patients and families with chronic disease or life-limiting illness through optimal symptom management. Individuals in need of PC has reached 20 million annually ...