Identification of patients with noncancer diseases for palliative care services

To identify criteria for measuring the eligibility of patients with end-stage noncancer diseases for palliative care services in Australian residential aged care facilities.

No validated set if guidelines were available so five instruments were used: an adaptation of the American National Hospice Association Guidelines; a recent adaptation of the Karnofsky Performance Scale; the Modified Barthel Index; the Abbey Pain Score for assessment of people who are nonverbal and a Verbal Descriptor Scale, also for pain measurement. In addition, nutritional status and the presence of other problematic symptoms and their severity were also sought.

The adapted American National Hospice Association Guidelines provided an initial indicative framework and the other instruments were useful in providing confirmatory data for service eligibility and delivery.