Palliative Care Outcomes Collaboration (PCOC)
What is known
PCOC, is an Australian benchmarking program which aims to demonstrate and improve palliative care outcomes. PCOC uses Palliative Care Australia's Standards for Providing Quality Palliative Care for all Australians [1] as a guideline.
PCOC has developed a data collection system for palliative care services which is designed to lead to a common dataset. It covers both service-related information and clinical information. PCOC offers support with data collection, training of staff to use the tools, and a data analysis and benchmarking service that provides reports back to participating palliative care services.
The dataset consists of:
- Demographic information about each patient
- Information relating to the episode of care – where the patient was at the start of the episode and at the end of the episode, and what kind of care was being provided and by whom
- Clinical information including:
- Performance state, phase of care and dependency of the patient using standardised and validated tools including the Australian modified Karnofsky scale. [2]
- A Symptom Assessment Scale covering seven core symptoms: difficulty sleeping, appetite problems, nausea, bowel problems, breathing problems, fatigue, and pain
- Palliative Care Problem Severity scores for each of four aspects of care - pain, other symptoms, patient psychological and spiritual distress, and family and caregiver issues.
Implications for practice
- The PCOC dataset has been developed primarily for use in community settings and palliative care inpatient units. Adaptation of the dataset for consult-liaison services is in progress.
- The Symptom Assessment Scale and Palliative Care Problem Scales are designed to be part of routine clinical care and review of patients. The Symptom Assessment Scale is a validated assessment tool using numerical 1 –10 scoring, and is designed for completion either by patients or their proxies. [3]
- Information gained from the routine PCOC data collection can be used for monitoring outcomes of care for particular patients, identifying gaps in clinical care more generally, auditing the impact of changes in practice, and reviewing patterns of service delivery. PCOC has begun benchmarking workshops for participating services.
- As the PCOC dataset may replace existing data collection methods, it requires a long-term commitment from participating palliative care services, staff training, and adequate information technology resources.
Finding out more
PCOC website
PCOC data definitions
Information on the Symptom Assessment Tool
Related CareSearch pages
Audit
References
- Palliative Care Australia. Standards for Providing Quality Palliative Care for all Australians. Deakin West, ACT; Palliative Care Australia: 2005.
- Abernethy AP, Shelby-James T , Fazekas BS , Woods D, Currow DC The Australia-modified Karnofsky Performance Status (AKPS) scale: a revised scale for contemporary palliative care clinical practice [ISRCTN81117481] BMC Palliative Care 2005, 4:7doi
- Kristjanson LJ, Pickstock S, Yuen K, Davis S, Blight J, Cummins A, et al. Development and testing of the revised Symptom Assessment Scale: Final report. Perth; Edith Cowan University: 1999.
This page was created on 22 May 2008 and is due for review in May 2010
Last updated 20 June 2008