title: Quality of palliative care for patients with advanced cancer in a community consortium.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Measuring quality of care delivery is essential to palliative care program growth and sustainability. We formed the Carolinas Consortium for Palliative Care and collected a quality data registry to monitor our practice and inform quality improvement efforts.
  
  
  METHODS
  We analyzed all palliative care consultations in patients with cancer in our quality registry from March 2008 through October 2011 using 18 palliative care quality measures. Descriptive metric adherence was calculated after analyzing the relevant population for measurement.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used a paper-based, prospective method to monitor adherence for quality measures in a community-based palliative care consortium.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We demonstrate that measures evaluating process assessment (range 63%-100%), as opposed to interventions (range 3%-17%), are better documented.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Analyzing data on quality is feasible and valuable in community-based palliative care. Overall, processes to collect data on quality using nontechnology methods may underestimate true adherence to quality measures.
authors.affiliation: Duke Center for Learning Health Care, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, USA; Division of Medical Oncology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, USA; Center for Palliative Care, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, USA; Duke Cancer Institute, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, USA. Electronic address: Arif.kamal@duke.edu.
authors.forename: Arif H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Kamal
authors.affiliation: Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Ryan D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Nipp
authors.affiliation: Four Seasons, Flat Rock, North Carolina, USA.
authors.forename: Janet H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Bull
authors.affiliation: Forsyth Medical Center Palliative Care Services, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA.
authors.forename: Charles S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Stinson
authors.affiliation: Capital Caring, Falls Church, Virginia, USA.
authors.forename: Ashlei W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Lowery
authors.affiliation: Duke Center for Learning Health Care, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, USA.
authors.forename: Jonathan M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Nicolla
authors.affiliation: Duke Center for Learning Health Care, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, USA; Division of Medical Oncology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, USA; Center for Palliative Care, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, USA; Duke Cancer Institute, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, USA.
authors.forename: Amy P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Abernethy
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D012042:Registries
keywords: Oncology; palliative care; performance status; quality; symptoms