Quality of palliative care and palliative care outcomes Michael A. Echteld VUmc Amsterdam The Netherlands

Overview  Current research projects  Interests

1. Studying quality indicators of end-of-life care by reviewing hospitalised cancer patients’ records  Assess the adequacy of end-of-life care for hospitalised cancer patients  Retrospective analysis of deceased cancer patients’ records

2. SentiMELC – Monitoring End-of-Life Care by means of a Sentinel Network of GP’s  Aim: a nationwide overview of ›The care trajectory of the last three months life ›Care, needs and outcomes ›End-of-life decision making  Comparisons between Belgium and The Netherlands  Data are collected through the Sentinel Network of GP’s

3. Evaluating an individualised quality of life intervention for hospitalised cancer patients  Improving quality of life in a palliative care and symptom control hospital unit  Patient problems are identified using and instrument for individual QOL, and caretakers are assigned

4. Instruments for the measurement of palliative care outcomes  Assess the quality and usefulness of instruments for palliative care outcomes  Study psychometric properties of selected instruments in hospitals, hospices and terminal care units

5. Barriers and facilitators in the provision of adequate spiritual care in nursing homes  To determine adequacy of spiritual care provided by physicians and nurses in the nursing home  Methods ›Interviews with nursing home staff members ›Observations of care in the nursing home

6. Reducing fatigue and improving QOL in cancer patients: an intervention study  Reducing fatigue and improving QOL by means of a tailored physical activity programme for cancer patients  RCT

Odds and ends  Evaluation of units for terminal care in nursing homes: views of family members  Characteristics of volunteers in end-of-life care  A literature study on GP’s communication at the end of life

Research interests  (Individual) quality of life  Response shift and coping  Fatigue and developing interventions for fatigue  Palliative care needs and development of care facilities for noncancer patients (esp. CHF and COPD)

Thank you Quality of palliative care and palliative care outcomes Michael A. Echteld