Data Collection Improves Patient Outcomes in Hospice, Palliative Care

the Cancer Therapy Advisor take:

Routine data collection and feedback at point-of-care improves most patient outcomes in hospice and palliative care, according to a recent study published in Supportive Care in Cancer.

David Currow, MD, and fellow researchers at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia, examined data from 19,747 patients taken from the Australian Palliative Care Outcomes Collaboration in order to measure outcomes in the last three years. Point-of-care data points were set from July to December of 2008, subsequently compared to baseline data in six different six-month cycles for all submitted data.

The researchers found significant improvements across all domains of symptom control, family care, as well as psychological and spiritual care. However, they found no improvement in pain.

Additionally, they noted that interquartile ranges had decreased, which was indicative of better and more consistent patient outcomes that were being achieved with more data collection.

“These are the first national hospice/palliative care symptom control performance data to demonstrate improvements in clinical outcomes at a service level as a result of routine data collection and systematic feedback,” the authors concluded.