RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 The palliative care triage system in advanced cancer emergency care: development and initial validation
JF BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care
JO BMJ Support Palliat Care
FD British Medical Journal Publishing Group
SP e488
OP e491
DO 10.1136/spcare-2022-003713
VO 14
IS e1
A1 Paiva, Carlos Eduardo
A1 Seriaco, Fabíola de Lourdes Gonçalves de Freitas
A1 de Oliveira, Marco Antônio
A1 Nascimento, Maria Salete de Angelis
A1 Paiva, Bianca Sakamoto Ribeiro
YR 2024
UL http://spcare.bmj.com/content/14/e1/e488.abstract
AB Objective We aimed to develop and validate a new emergency triage tool for use on patients with cancer undergoing palliative care (PC).Methods In phase I, the new tool was developed after literature review and expert committee meetings. A prospective longitudinal study in phase II assessed the interobserver reliability of the tool. In phase III, a retrospective study of administrative data, the feasibility of routine use of the new tool and the associations with hospitalisation and survival times were evaluated.Results The palliative care triage system (PCTS) was composed of check-list items and four colour-coded categories for maximum response time. In phase II, the PCTS was independently evaluated by two nurses for 102 attendances in the emergency department of the PC unit. An absolute agreement of 87.3% and a weighted kappa of 0.81 were observed. In phase III, all 493 attendances had the PCTS assessment registered in the medical records. The PCTS categories were associated with hospital admission (p<0.001) and survival times (p<0.001).Conclusion PCTS is a feasible tool to be used in routine ED triage of patients with advanced cancer undergoing PC. It is a valid instrument for predicting hospital admission rates and survival with high interobserver concordance rates.