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Congress Abstracts 2005

75

IMPLEMENTING A PALLIATIVE CARE CONSULT SERVICE. Sara Welsh, RN, MSN, CNAA, Curtis & Elizabeth Anderson Cancer Institute at Memorial Health University Medical Center, Savannah, GA; Jerry Quinn, RN, OCN®, Memorial Health University Medical Center, Savannah, GA; and Jennifer Currin, LMSW, Memorial Health University Medical Center, Savannah, GA.

Palliative care is comprehensive, interdisciplinary care for the management of patients and their families with chronic debilitating or life threatening illness. The aim of this care is to relieve suffering and improve quality of life.This type of care is different than hospice care. One in five hospitals now offers palliative care. Developing a palliative care consult service is a method that allows community hospitals to offer this type of care to cancer patients without the high cost of hiring/supporting their own staff.

This abstract will describe the actions taken by an interdisciplinary team lead by an oncology nurse to devise and implement a palliative care service at a community cancer center. Details will be provided so that other organizations can replicate this service.

As this was a new service many new processes had to be devised such as:
  1. A palliative care screening tool was adapted to screen patients on admission. Using a standardized scoring system patients with palliative care needs were identified. The primary care physician is notified and an order for a palliatve care consult is requested.
  2. An assessment of staff knowledge and beliefs about palliative care was devised and given to staff to identify learning needs and beliefs about palliative care.
  3. A process was devised so that the palliative care physican was allowed to see patients in the hospital and work with the patient/family and care team.
For this ongoing project, the following measurement indicators were selected:
  1. Percent of patients eligible that were referred
  2. Time from MD order to consult
  3. Change in variable costs
  4. Percent of identified needs met by dishcarge

Oncology nurses have the knowledge and skills to lead interdisciplinary teams in developing cost effective, palliative care consult services. This type of service can improve quality of life and also decreases costs.
 
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