Purpose of the Project: The purpose of this project was to validate a comprehensive nurse-driven palliative care screening tool designed to identify patients who may benefit from palliative care services earlier in their disease trajectory. The tool aimed to improve the quality of life for patients with serious illnesses by facilitating timely referrals to palliative care. Methodology: This quality improvement project was implemented in a 24-bed intensive care unit utilizing a nurse-driven palliative screening tool to trigger early consultations for palliative care. A retrospective and prospective analysis was used to evaluate how a palliative screening tool can trigger early evaluation and increase number of palliative care consults in the ICU. Results: There was a statistically significant increase in consults post intervention (χ²(1, N = 411) = 13.61, p < 0.001), with consults increasing from 24.6% pre-intervention (50 of 203 patients) to 42.3% post-intervention (88 of 208 patients). Implications for Practice: The implementation of this nurse-driven screening tool revealed a strong potential to transform palliative care delivery by allowing earlier availability of supportive care for critically ill patients in the ICU. Widespread use in clinical practice may improve patient outcomes across such metrics as quality of life and health care costs. Long-term impacts of earlier palliative care interventions and the screening tool’s flexibility in many health care settings should be the subject of future research.
Maria Lazo (Thu,) studied this question.
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