Integrating Palliative and Oncology Care for Patients with Advanced Cancer: A Quality Improvement Intervention.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Practice guidelines recommend palliative care for patients with advanced cancer, but gaps in access and quality of care persist.

Objective

To increase goals-of-care (GOC) communication for hospitalized patients with Stage IV cancer.

Methods

An interdisciplinary team designed a quality improvement intervention to enhance oncology palliative care, including training in communication skills and triggers for palliative care consults.

Setting/subjects

All adult inpatients with Stage IV cancer and unplanned admission at an 804-bed hospital affiliated with a National Cancer Institute (NCI) Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Measurements

The primary quality measure was the percentage of patients with Stage IV cancer who had a GOC discussion during hospitali

SUBMITTER: Hanson LC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5749575 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature