Perceptions of the care received from Australian palliative care services: A caregiver perspective.

Unlabelled: ABSTRACTBackground:Caregiver satisfaction and experience surveys help health professionals to understand, measure, and improve the quality of care provided for patients and their families.

Objective: Our aim was to explore caregiver perceptions of the care received from Australian specialist palliative care services.

Method: Caregivers of patients receiving palliative care in services registered with Australia's Palliative Care Outcomes Collaboration were invited to participate in a caregiver survey.

Palliative Care Problem Severity Score: Reliability and acceptability in a national study.

Background: The Palliative Care Problem Severity Score is a clinician-rated tool to assess problem severity in four palliative care domains (pain, other symptoms, psychological/spiritual, family/carer problems) using a 4-point categorical scale (absent, mild, moderate, severe).

Aim: To test the reliability and acceptability of the Palliative Care Problem Severity Score.

Design: Multi-centre, cross-sectional study involving pairs of clinicians independently rating problem severity using the tool.

A survey of patients' experience of pain and other symptoms while receiving care from palliative care services.

Context: In Australia, patients at the end of life with complex symptoms and needs are often referred to palliative care services (PCSs), but little is known about the symptoms of patients receiving palliative care in different settings.

Objective: To explore patients' levels of pain and other symptoms while receiving care from PCSs.

Method: PCSs registered through Australia's national Palliative Care Outcomes Collaboration (PCOC) were invited to participate in a survey between 2008 and 2011.

Palliative Care Phase: inter-rater reliability and acceptability in a national study.

Background: The concept of palliative care consisting of five distinct, clinically meaningful, phases (stable, unstable, deteriorating, terminal and bereavement) was developed in Australia about 20 years ago and is used routinely for communicating clinical status, care planning, quality improvement and funding.

Aim: To test the reliability and acceptability of revised definitions of Palliative Care Phase.

Design: Multi-centre cross-sectional study involving pairs of clinicians independently rating patients according to revised definitions of Palliative Care Phase.