Feasibility of a Two-Step Palliative Screening Utilizing Existing Emergency Department Resources

Although the Emergency Department (ED) offers a unique setting to provide early palliative care, staffing limitations curtail hospitals from establishing ED-palliative partnerships.

Feasibility of a two-step ED-palliative screening protocol was defined by two criteria: a ≥ 50% increase in palliative consults originating from the ED and a ≥ 50% consultation completion rate for patients who screened positive for unmet palliative needs.

A clinical decision support tool identified patients with treatment/code status limitations and prompted a care coordination referral. Care coordinators screened patients for unmet palliative needs using a content-validated screening tool and consulted palliative care for positive screens.

Palliative care consultations originating from the ED increased by 110% from 32 to 67 consultations, and 57% (40/70) of patients who screened positive for unmet palliative needs received a consultation.

Our project demonstrated feasibility of a two-step ED-palliative protocol by increasing palliative care consultation without necessitating additional staff.