title: [Detection of palliative care needs in an acute care hospital unit. Pilot study].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Previous to wider prevalence studies, we designed the present pilot study to assess concordance and time invested in patient evaluations using a palliative care needs assessment tool. We also sought to estimate the prevalence of palliative care needs in an acute care hospital unit.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study was carried out, 4 researchers (2 doctors and 2 nurses) independently assessed all inpatients in an acute care hospital unit in Manacor Hospital, Mallorca (Spain), using the validated tool NECPAL CCOMS-ICO©, measuring time invested in every case. Another researcher revised clinical recordings to analise the sample profile.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Every researcher assessed 29 patients, 15 men and 14 women, mean age 74,03 ± 10.25 years. 4-observer concordance was moderate (Kappa 0,5043), tuning out to be higher between nurses. Mean time per patient evaluation was 1.9 to 7.72 minutes, depending on researcher. Prevalence of palliative care needs was 23,28%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Moderate concordance lean us towards multidisciplinary shared assessments as a method for future research. Avarage of time invested in evaluations was less than 8 minutes, no previous publications were identified regarding this variable. More than 20% of inpatients of the acute care unit were in need of palliative care.
authors.affiliation: Unidad de calidad, Hospital de Manacor, Manacor, Mallorca, España. Electronic address: mianrodriguez@hmanacor.org.
authors.forename: Miguel Ángel
authors.initials: MÁ
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-Calero
authors.affiliation: Equipo de soporte hospitalario de atención paliativa, Hospital de Manacor, Manacor, Mallorca, España.
authors.forename: Joana María
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Julià-Mora
authors.affiliation: Unidad de hospitalización UH2B, Hospital de Manacor, Manacor, Mallorca, España.
authors.forename: Araceli
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Prieto-Alomar
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006757:Hospital Units; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010166:Palliative Care; D010865:Pilot Projects; D013030:Spain
keywords: Chronic disease; Cuidados paliativos; Enfermedad crónica; Palliative care; Prevalence; Prevalencia