title: Referral criteria for outpatient specialty palliative cancer care: an international consensus.
abstract: Although outpatient specialty palliative-care clinics improve outcomes, there is no consensus on who should be referred or the optimal timing for referral. In response to this issue, we did a Delphi study to develop consensus on a list of criteria for referral of patients with advanced cancer at secondary or tertiary care hospitals to outpatient palliative care. 60 international experts (26 from North America, 19 from Asia and Australia, and 11 from Europe) on palliative cancer care rated 39 needs-based criteria and 22 time-based criteria in three iterative rounds. Nearly all experts responded in each round. Consensus was defined by an a-priori agreement of 70% or more. Panellists reached consensus on 11 major criteria for referral: severe physical symptoms, severe emotional symptoms, request for hastened death, spiritual or existential crisis, assistance with decision making or care planning, patient request for referral, delirium, spinal cord compression, brain or leptomeningeal metastases, within 3 months of advanced cancer diagnosis for patients with median survival of 1 year or less, and progressive disease despite second-line therapy. Consensus was also reached on 36 minor criteria for specialist palliative-care referral. These criteria, if validated, could provide guidance for identification of patients suitable for outpatient specialty palliative care.
authors.affiliation: Department of Palliative Care, Rehabilitation and Integrative Medicine, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA. Electronic address: dhui@mdanderson.org.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hui
authors.affiliation: Palliative Care Team, Seirei Mikatahara General Hospital, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan.
authors.forename: Masanori
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.affiliation: Division of Palliative Care Medicine, Department of Oncology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
authors.forename: Sharon M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.affiliation: Palliative Care, Pain Therapy and Rehabilitation, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori di Milano, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Augusto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Caraceni
authors.affiliation: Oncological Palliative Medicine, Hematology-Oncology, Cantonal Hospital, St Gallen, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Florian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Strasser
authors.affiliation: Department of Palliative Care, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Cancer Center, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Tiina
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Saarto
authors.affiliation: Cancer Pain and Palliative Medicine Service, Department of Medical Oncology, Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel.
authors.forename: Nathan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Cherny
authors.affiliation: Pain and Palliative Care Service, Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Glare
authors.affiliation: European Palliative Care Research Centre, Department of Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway; Department of Oncology, Oslo University Hospital and University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Stein
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kaasa
authors.affiliation: Department of Palliative Care, Rehabilitation and Integrative Medicine, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Eduardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bruera
mesh_terms: D003697:Delphi Technique; D006801:Humans; D008511:Medicine; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D010045:Outpatients; D010166:Palliative Care; D012017:Referral and Consultation