A comparison of palliative care outcome measures used to assess the quality of palliative care provided in residential aged care facilities : a systematic review

It is now recognised that palliative care in residential aged care facilities (RACFs) is important, particularly for people with non-cancer disease. While Australia leads the world with the first evidence-based guidelines for a palliative approach in this setting, limited research has been undertaken in measuring the extent to which these guidelines and other practice initiatives will impact on resident and family outcomes. This is due in part to the difficulties of measuring outcomes in palliative care in these settings and particularly the lack of evidence for the validity of measurement tools in palliative care. Despite these problems measuring outcomes is important for the development of high quality care, particularly in settings where new models of care are being developed.