Development of a holistic admission assessment: an integrated care pathway for the hospice setting

This article describes the development of a holistic admission assessment for all inpatients admitted to a 66-bedded hospice, structured in the form of an integrated care pathway (ICP). The need for an improved assessment process was identified by clinical staff, who recognized that the existing assessment was not truly holistic and was dependent on the skills of the assessors. The assessment also lacked appropriate goals and actions. The recently published National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidance on Improving Supportive and Palliative Care for Adults with Cancer, has also highlighted key areas for the improvement of patient assessment in specialist palliative care (NICE, 2004). Implementation of the ICP has resulted in a systematic and timely holistic assessment process for patients. The ICP addresses effectively the NICE recommendations for the assessment of specialist palliative care patients.