Clinical instrument example: OACC
| Instrument | OOACC suite of measures1 |
| Description | A collection of measures which individually assess a key aspect of palliative care, including questions relating to a patient’s stage of illness, functioning, symptoms, quality of life and those of their informal care givers.1 OACC data provide a perspective on a patient’s care, and when collated over a period of time, can be used to monitor and evaluate patients’ condition(41). OACC is a UK example of combining measures with similar examples found internationally (eg, Australian Palliative Care Outcomes Collaboration.47 |
| Care setting | OACC has been widely adopted in specialist palliative care settings81 but there is little evidence of uptake in non-specialist palliative care health and care settings. There are recognised barriers to using OACC in non-palliative care specialist settings, including those with high caseloads, as is typical in general practice and acute hospitals.82 |
| Patient population | Limited to patients recognised to be ‘end of life’ or in receipt of palliative or end-of-life care, as it is a specific clinical tool focused on end-of-life care provision. |
| Measure feasibility | Limited without significant resourcing. While OACC is recommended to be included in routine clinical practice, it is not clear how data collected from healthcare organisations could be pooled for population-level analysis. |
| Care quality | High. OACC fulfils the European Association of Palliative Care Taskforce on Outcome Measurement83 recommendations1, and by combining a variety of measures addressed a wide spectrum of aspects related to quality care. The measure prioritises patients’ perspectives where possible, and provides contemporaneous data. |
OACC, Outcome Assessment and Complexity Collaborative.