title: Concordance in the Assessment of Effectiveness of Palliative Care between Patients and Palliative Care Nurses in Malaysia: A Study with the Palliative Care Outcome Scale.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Palliative Care Outcome Scale (POS) is an easy-to-use assessment tool to evaluate the effectiveness of palliative care. There is no published literature on the use of POS as an assessment tool in Malaysia.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To define the concordance in the assessment of quality of life between patients with advanced cancers and their palliative care nurses using a Malay version of the POS.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was conducted in the palliative care unit of the Hospital Tuanku Ja'afar Seremban, Malaysia, from February 2014 to June 2014.
  
  
  METHODS
  We adapted and validated the English version of the 3-day recall POS into Malay and used it to define the concordance in the assessment of quality of life between patients and palliative care nurses. Forty patients with advanced stage cancers and forty palliative care nurses completed the Malay POS questionnaire.
  
  
  METHODS
  The kappa statistical test was used to assess the agreement between patients and their palliative care nurses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Slight to fair concordance was found in all items, except for one item (family anxiety) where there was no agreement.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The Malay version of the POS was well accepted and reliable as an assessment tool for evaluation of the effectiveness of palliative care in Malaysia. Slight to fair concordance was shown between the patients and their palliative care nurses, suggesting the needs for more training of the nurses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, International Medical University, Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Kwee Choy
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Koh
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, International Medical University, Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Esha Das
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, International Medical University, Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Sangeetha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Poovaneswaran
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, International Medical University, Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Siaw Ling
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Then
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, International Medical University, Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Michelle Jia Jui
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Teo
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, International Medical University, Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Teik Yiap
authors.initials: TY
authors.lastname: Gan
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, International Medical University, Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Joanne Hwei Yean
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Thing
keywords: Assessment tool; Malay; Palliative Care Outcome Scale; palliative care