Goal setting as a measure of outcome in palliative care
Title
Goal setting as a measure of outcome in palliative care
Creator
Needham PR; Newbury J
Identifier
Publisher
Palliative Medicine
Date
2004
Subject
Humans; Great Britain; Adult; Medical Audit; Aged; Middle Aged; Goals; Interprofessional Relations; Outcome Assessment (Health Care); 80 and over; Non-U.S. Gov't; Research Support; Palliative Care/standards; caregivers
Description
Setting goals and assessing outcomes are essential elements in palliative care. This paper describes a multiprofessional project, conducted under the auspices of clinical audit, which attempted to evaluate important outcomes of care. Over a six-month period there were 123 consecutive admissions to the hospice. These patients and their carers, as well as the staff, were encouraged to set explicit goals for, and evaluate outcomes of, their care. As anticipated, we encountered many difficulties in this, but there were benefits. We were able to record goals of admission from the patient in 97 cases (79%), their main carer in 74 cases (63%) and from hospice staff in 120 cases (98%). Patient and carer goals were often more functional and specific whereas the staff goals tended to be more problem or symptom focused. The achievement of these goals was evaluated by patients, carers and staff at discharge or death (where possible) with the majority being fully or partially met. Only 15 patients and 9 carers thought that some or all of their goals had not been achieved with just 4 recording that their goals had changed. Overall, it was a worthwhile (although time-consuming) exercise and, as a result of the 'audit', clear goals and outcomes from patient, carer and staff perspectives are now routinely recorded for all admissions to the hospice and are used to focus multiprofessional patient review. Having analysed the process as well as the results of the 'audit', we would encourage others not to be daunted from undertaking similar projects.
2004
Rights
Article information provided for research and reference use only. PedPalASCNET does not hold any rights over the resource listed here. All rights are retained by the journal listed under publisher and/or the creator(s).
Type
Journal Article
Citation List Month
Backlog
URL Address
Citation
Needham PR; Newbury J, “Goal setting as a measure of outcome in palliative care,” Pediatric Palliative Care Library, accessed February 16, 2025, https://pedpalascnetlibrary.omeka.net/items/show/12697.