Patient-reported and patient experience outcome tools for palliative care in acute hospitals - What's helpful? What...

The primary aim of this review was to identify and describe the tools or methods used to capture patient-reported experiences and outcomes related to palliative care provided within acute hospital settings.

Twenty-eight patient-reported outcome and experience measures were used across the studies. The studies mainly used the patient-reported outcome measures to assess symptom burden and distress. Only four studies used both patient-reported outcome measures and patient-reported experience measures. Most studies predominantly included patients with cancer. Only one new measure was found in the last 18 months. There was lack of use of electronic versions of patient-reported outcome and experience measures in inpatient palliative care.

Limited evidence was found on the use of electronic version of patient-reported outcome and patient reported experience measures in inpatient palliative care. There is a critical need to enhance understanding and routine implementation of more holistic patient-reported outcome measures in hospital-based specialist palliative care. Further research is needed to identify the most appropriate electronic version of holistic patient-reported outcome measures and patient-reported experience measures for use in these settings.