Systematic symptom and problem assessment at admission to the palliative care ward - perspectives and prognostic impacts.

Background: Symptom assessment is essential in palliative care, but holds challenges concerning implementation and relevance. This study aims to evaluate patients' main symptoms and problems at admission to a specialist inpatient palliative care (SIPC) ward using physician proxy- and patient self-assessment, and aims to identify their prognostic impact as well as the agreement between both assessments.

Methods: Within 12 h after admission, palliative care specialists completed the Symptom and Problem Checklist of the German Hospice and Palliative Care Evaluation (HOPE-SP-CL).