Victoria Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care January June 2013 Report 15 25 th October 2013 PCOC is funded under the National Palliative Care Program and is supported by the Australian Government Department of Health www.pcoc.org.au
About the Palliative Care Outcomes Collaboration (PCOC) PCOC is a unique national program that utilises standardised clinical assessment tools to measure and benchmark patient outcomes in palliative care. Participation in PCOC is voluntary and can assist palliative care service providers to improve practice and meet the Palliative Care Australia (PCA) Standards for Providing Quality Palliative Care for all Australians. This is achieved via the PCOC dataset; a multi-purpose framework designed to: provide clinicians with an approach to systematically assess individual patient experiences define a common clinical language to streamline communication between palliative care providers facilitate the routine collection of national palliative care data to drive quality improvement through reporting and benchmarking The PCOC dataset includes the clinical assessment tools: Palliative Care Phase, Palliative Care Problem Severity Score (PCPSS), Symptom Assessment Scale (SAS), Australia-modified Karnofsky Performance Status Scale (AKPS) and Resource Utilisation Groups Activities of Daily Living (RUG-ADL). PCOC has divided Australia into four zones for the purpose of engaging with palliative care service providers. Each zone is represented by a chief investigator from one of the four collaborative centres. The four PCOC zones and their respective chief investigators are: Central Zone North Zone South Zone West Zone Professor Kathy Eagar, Australian Health Services Research Institute, University of Wollongong Professor Patsy Yates, Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology Professor David Currow, Department of Palliative and Supportive Services, Flinders University Assistant Professor Claire Johnson, Cancer and Palliative Care Research and Evaluation Unit, University of WA Each zone is also represented by one or more quality improvement facilitators, whose role includes supporting services to participate in PCOC and facilitating ongoing service development and quality improvement. The National team is located within the Australian Health Services Research Institute at the University of Wollongong. If you would like more information or have any queries about this report please contact your state Quality Improvement Facilitator or contact us at pcoc@uow.edu.au or phone (02) 4221 4411.
Contents Introduction... 1 Section 1 Summary of data included in this report... 2 1.1 Data summary... 2 1.2 Data Item Completion... 3 Section 2 Benchmark summary... 5 2.1 VIC at a glance... 5 2.2 National benchmark profiles... 6 Outcome measure 1 Time from referral to first contact... 7 Outcome measure 2 Time in unstable phase... 9 Outcome measure 3 Change in pain (SAS pain)... 11 Section 3 Outcome measures in detail... 15 3.1 Outcome measure 1 Time from referral to first contact... 15 3.2 Outcome measure 2 Time in unstable phase... 17 3.3 Outcome measure 3 Change in pain... 19 3.4 Outcome measure 4 Change in symptoms relative to the baseline national average (X-CAS)... 22 Section 4 - Descriptive analysis... 25 4.1 Profile of palliative care patients... 26 4.2 Profile of palliative care episodes... 31 4.3 Profile of palliative care phases... 37 Appendix A Data Scoping Method... 49 Appendix B X-CAS technical notes... 50 Acknowledgements... 51 List of Tables Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 i
Table 1 Number and percentage of patients, episodes and phases by setting... 2 Table 2 Item completion (per cent complete) - patient level... 3 Table 3 Item completion by setting (per cent complete) - episode level... 3 Table 4 Item completion by setting (per cent complete) - phase level... 4 Table 5 Summary of outcome measures 1-3 by setting... 5 Table 6 Summary of outcome measure 4: Average improvement on the 2008 baseline national average (X-CAS)... 5 Table 7 Time from referral to first contact by setting... 15 Table 8 Time in unstable phase by setting and occurrence in episode... 18 Table 9 Trends in Benchmark 3.1: Patients experience absent/mild pain at phase start, remaining absent/mild at phase end (PCPSS) by setting... 19 Table 10 Trends in Benchmark 3.2: Patients experience moderate/severe pain at phase start, with absent/mild pain at phase end (PCPSS) by setting... 19 Table 11 Trends in Benchmark 3.3: Patients experience absent/mild pain at phase start, remaining absent/mild at phase end (SAS) by setting... 20 Table 12 Trends in Benchmark 3.4: Patients experience moderate/severe pain at phase start, with absent/mild pain at phase end (SAS) by setting... 20 Table 13 Indigenous status... 26 Table 14 Preferred language spoken at home... 27 Table 15 Country of birth... 28 Table 16 Primary diagnosis - malignant... 29 Table 17 Primary diagnosis - non-malignant... 30 Table 18 Age group by gender... 31 Table 19 Referral source by setting... 32 Table 20 Date ready for care to episode start by episode setting... 33 Table 21 Length of episode (in days) summary by setting... 34 Table 22 Length of episode (in days) by setting... 34 Table 23 How episodes start and end for Victorian services inpatient setting... 35 Table 24 How episodes start and end for all services inpatient setting... 35 Table 25 How episodes start and end for Victorian services ambulatory and community setting... 36 Table 26 How episodes start and end for all services ambulatory and community setting... 36 Table 27 Place of death ambulatory and community setting... 36 Table 28 Number of phases by phase type and setting... 37 Table 29 Average phase length (in days) by phase type and setting... 37 Table 30 How stable phases end by setting... 38 Table 31 How unstable phases end by setting... 39 Table 32 How deteriorating phases end by setting... 40 Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 ii
Table 33 How terminal phases end by setting... 41 Table 34 Profile of PCPSS at beginning of phase by phase type inpatient setting (percentages)... 42 Table 35 Profile of PCPSS at beginning of phase by phase type ambulatory and community settings (percentages)... 43 Table 36 Profile of SAS scores at beginning of phase by phase type inpatient setting (percentages)... 44 Table 37 Profile of SAS scores at beginning of phase by phase type ambulatory and community settings (percentages)... 45 Table 38 Australia-modified Karnofsky Performance Status (AKPS) at phase start by setting... 46 List of Figures Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 iii
Figure 1 Percentage of patients contacted on the day of, or the day after referral inpatient setting... 7 Figure 2 Percentage of patients contacted on the day of, or the day after referral ambulatory & community settings... 8 Figure 3 Percentage of patients in the unstable phase for 3 days or less inpatient setting... 9 Figure 4 Percentage of patients in the unstable phase for 3 days or less ambulatory & community settings... 10 Figure 5 Percentage of patients with absent/mild distress from pain at phase start, remaining absent/mild at phase end inpatient setting... 11 Figure 6 Percentage of patients with absent/mild distress from pain at phase start, remaining absent/mild at phase end ambulatory & community settings... 12 Figure 7 Percentage of patients with moderate/severe distress from pain at phase start, with absent/mild distress from pain at phase end inpatient setting... 13 Figure 8 Percentage of patients with moderate/severe distress from pain at phase start, with absent/mild distress from pain at phase end ambulatory & community settings... 14 Figure 9 Trends in time from referral to first contact by setting... 16 Figure 10 Trends in outcome measure 3... 21 Figure 11 Trends in outcome measure 4 Palliative Care Problem Severity Score (PCPSS)... 23 Figure 12 Trends in outcome measure 4 Symptom Assessment Scale (SAS)... 24 Figure 13 Stable phase progression inpatient setting... 38 Figure 14 Stable phase progression ambulatory & community settings... 38 Figure 15 Unstable phase progression inpatient setting... 39 Figure 16 Unstable phase progression ambulatory & community settings... 39 Figure 17 Deteriorating phase progression inpatient setting... 40 Figure 18 Deteriorating phase progression ambulatory & community settings... 40 Figure 19 Terminal phase progression inpatient setting... 41 Figure 20 Terminal phase progression ambulatory & community settings... 41 Figure 21 Total RUG-ADL at beginning of phase by phase type inpatient setting... 47 Figure 22 Total RUG-ADL at beginning of phase by phase type ambulatory & community settings... 48 Figure 23 Diagram of the PCOC data scoping method... 49 Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 iv
Introduction PCOC assists services to improve the quality of the palliative care they provide through the analysis and benchmarking of patient outcomes. In this, the fifteenth PCOC report, data submitted for the January - June 2013 period are summarised and patient outcomes benchmarked to enable participating services to assess their performance and identify areas in which they may improve. Since July 2012, participating services have been progressively implementing Version 3 of the PCOC dataset. This report is the first to include the new information collected under Version 3. The most notable additions are the inclusion of the Date ready for care item and the expansion of the list of palliative care diagnoses. For more information on the PCOC Version 3 dataset, please see PCOC s Clinical Reference Manual, available from www.pcoc.org.au. This report is divided into four sections: Section 1 provides a summary of the data included in the report Section 2 summarises each of the four outcome measures and presents national benchmarking results for a selection of these measures. Section 3 presents a more detailed analysis of the outcome measures and benchmarks. Section 4 provides descriptive analysis at each of the patient, episode and phase data levels. In each of the four sections, data and analysis for Victoria is presented alongside the national figures for comparative purposes. The national figures reflect all palliative care services who submitted data for the January - June 2013 period. A full list of these services can be found at www.pcoc.org.au The four outcome measures included in this report were first introduced in the reporting period January - June 2009 (Report 7). There is strong sectoral support for national benchmarks and a consensus that such benchmarks can drive service innovation regardless of model of care. Benchmarking provides opportunities to understand the services that are provided, the outcomes patients experience and also to generate research opportunities focused on how to demonstrate variations in practice and outcomes. Note some tables throughout this report may be incomplete. This is because some items may not be applicable or it may be due to data quality issues. Please use the following key when interpreting the tables: na u The item is not applicable The item was unavailable or unable to be calculated due to missing, invalid or insufficient data. Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 1
Section 1 Summary of data included in this report 1.1 Data summary This report includes data from a total of 93 services. During the reporting period, data were provided for a total of 16,316 patients who between them had 20,715 episodes of care and 47,761 palliative care phases. These total numbers are determined by a data scoping method. This method looks at the phase level data first and includes all phases that ended within the current reporting period. The associated episodes and patients are then determined (Appendix A contains a more detailed explanation of this process). Table 1 shows the number of patients, episodes and phases included in this report both for Victorian services and nationally. A consequence of the data scoping method is that it is likely that not all phases related to a particular episode are included in this report. Hence, the average number of phases per episode calculation shown in Table 1 may be an underestimate (due to episodes that cross-over 2 or more reporting periods) as it only includes phases that ended within the current reporting period. Table 1 Number and percentage of patients, episodes and phases by setting Setting Inpatient Ambulatory & community Total VIC All Services VIC All Services VIC All Services Number of patients* 2,417 9,860 2,803 7,556 4,743 16,316 Number of episodes 2,777 11,425 3,590 9,290 6,367 20,715 Number of phases 6,771 27,982 6,022 19,779 12,793 47,761 Percentage of patients* 51.0 60.4 59.1 46.3 100 100 Percentage of episodes 43.6 55.2 56.4 44.8 100 100 Percentage of phases 52.9 58.6 47.1 41.4 100 100 Average number of phases per episode** 2.4 2.3 1.6 2.0 2.0 2.2 * Patients seen in both settings are only counted once in the total column and hence numbers/percentages may not add to the total. ** Average number of phases per episode is only calculated for closed episodes that started and ended within the reporting period and excludes bereavement phases. Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 2
1.2 Data Item Completion Overall, the quality of data submitted to PCOC is very good and, as shown in Table 2, Table 3 and Table 4 below, the rate of data completion is very high. In reviewing these tables, it is important to note that in some cases some data items are not required to be completed. For example, place of death is only required for ambulatory and community patients who have died. Hence the complete column in the following tables only refers to the percentage of complete records where the data item was relevant. PCOC strongly encourages services to complete and submit the whole data set on every patient as non-completion may result in services being excluded from relevant benchmarking activities or erroneous conclusions being drawn. Low completion of data items may also distort percentages and graphs in some sections. Table 2 Item completion (per cent complete) - patient level Data item VIC All Services Date of birth 100.0 100.0 Sex 100.0 100.0 Indigenous status 97.9 97.3 Country of birth 97.8 98.1 Preferred language 98.0 94.6 Primary diagnosis 97.7 98.7 Note: This table is not split by setting to be consistent with the patient level analysis throughout this report. Table 3 Item completion by setting (per cent complete) - episode level Inpatient Ambulatory & community Total Data item All All All VIC VIC VIC Services Services Services Date of first contact/assessment 99.7 95.8 99.2 98.7 99.4 97.1 Referral date 99.7 99.1 99.4 99.5 99.5 99.3 Referral source 98.8 98.1 97.2 97.9 97.9 98.0 Date ready for care 69.9 62.9 86.6 88.2 79.3 74.3 Mode of episode start 99.9 99.9 93.7 96.9 96.4 98.6 Accommodation at episode start 94.9 97.6 95.7 97.1 95.5 97.3 Episode end date 98.1 99.2 97.0 93.0 97.5 96.4 Mode of episode end 99.0 99.4 99.8 99.5 99.5 99.5 Accommodation at episode end 93.9 97.1 91.8 95.7 93.3 96.7 Place of death na na 97.6 95.2 97.6 95.2 Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 3
Table 4 Item completion by setting (per cent complete) - phase level Data item Sub-Category Inpatient Ambulatory & community Total (where applicable) VIC All Services VIC All Services VIC All Services RUG-ADL Bed mobility 100.0 99.2 96.7 97.2 98.4 98.4 at phase start Toileting 100.0 99.2 96.7 96.8 98.4 98.2 Transfers 100.0 99.2 96.5 96.1 98.3 97.9 Eating 99.9 99.0 96.3 93.9 98.2 96.8 PC Problem Severity Pain 99.9 87.8 96.4 97.9 98.2 92.0 at phase start Other symptom 99.9 95.1 95.4 97.1 97.8 96.0 Psychological/spiritual 100.0 98.4 95.9 97.6 98.0 98.0 Family/carer 100.0 97.3 95.3 97.3 97.7 97.3 Symptom Assessment Difficulty sleeping 92.5 90.8 91.3 94.0 91.9 92.1 Scale Appetite problems 92.5 91.1 95.5 94.5 93.9 92.5 at phase start Nausea 92.5 91.1 95.5 96.5 94.0 93.4 Bowel problems 92.5 91.0 94.0 95.1 93.2 92.8 Breathing problems 92.5 91.2 95.2 96.3 93.8 93.3 Fatigue 92.5 91.1 96.7 96.0 94.5 93.2 Pain 92.5 91.1 97.5 97.5 94.9 93.8 Phase end reason - 95.7 93.8 99.0 93.6 97.2 93.7 Karnofsky at phase start - 98.5 94.6 96.8 97.7 97.7 95.9 Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 4
Section 2 Benchmark summary 2.1 VIC at a glance Table 5 Summary of outcome measures 1-3 by setting Outcome measure Description Benchmark Inpatient Ambulatory & community 1. Time from referral to first contact 2. Time in unstable phase Benchmark 1: Patients contacted on the day of, or the day after referral Benchmark 2: Patients in the unstable phase for 3 days or less Your Score Benchmark Met? Your Score Benchmark Met? 90% 92.5 Yes 40.6 No 90% 76.5 No 57.5 No 3. Change in pain Benchmark 3.1: PCPSS Patients with absent/mild pain at phase start, remaining absent/mild at phase end Benchmark 3.2: PCPSS Patients with moderate/severe pain at phase start, with absent/mild pain at phase end Benchmark 3.3: SAS Patients with absent/mild distress from pain at phase start, remaining absent/mild at phase end Benchmark 3.4: SAS Patients with moderate/severe distress from pain at phase start, with absent/mild distress from pain at phase end 90% 85.6 No 81.3 No 60% 58.3 No 46.6 No 90% 86.1 No 82.1 No 60% 54.3 No 48.5 No Table 6 Summary of outcome measure 4: Average improvement on the 2008 baseline national average (X-CAS) Clinical Tool Description Average improvement on baseline Benchmark met? PCPSS Benchmark 4.1: Pain 0.16 Yes Benchmark 4.2: Other symptoms 0.35 Yes Benchmark 4.3: Family/carer 0.21 Yes Benchmark 4.4: Psychological/spiritual 0.18 Yes SAS Benchmark 4.5: Pain 0.30 Yes Benchmark 4.6: Nausea 0.25 Yes Benchmark 4.7: Breathing problems 0.41 Yes Benchmark 4.8: Bowel problems 0.43 Yes The benchmark for outcome measure 4 is zero. For more information on the outcome measures and benchmarks, see Section 2 and Appendix B Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 5
2.2 National benchmark profiles In this section, the national profiles for selected benchmarks are split by setting (inpatient or ambulatory and community) and presented graphically. The selected benchmarks included are: Benchmark 1 Patients contacted on the day of or the day after referral Benchmark 2 Patients in the unstable phase for 3 days or less Benchmark 3.3 SAS: Patients with absent/mild distress from pain at phase start, remaining absent/mild at phase end Benchmark 3.4 SAS: Patients with moderate/severe distress from pain at phase start, with absent/mild distress from pain at phase end The national profile graphs below allow service to see how you are performing in comparison to other palliative care services participating in PCOC. In each graph, the shaded region describes the national profile for that outcome measure. Victorian services are highlighted as a dot on the graph. The red line on the graph indicates the benchmark for that outcome measure. Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 6
Outcome measure 1 Time from referral to first contact Benchmark 1 Figure 1 Percentage of patients contacted on the day of, or the day after referral inpatient setting Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 7
Figure 2 Percentage of patients contacted on the day of, or the day after referral ambulatory & community settings Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 8
Outcome measure 2 Time in unstable phase Benchmark 2 Figure 3 Percentage of patients in the unstable phase for 3 days or less inpatient setting Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 9
Figure 4 Percentage of patients in the unstable phase for 3 days or less ambulatory & community settings Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 10
Outcome measure 3 Change in pain (SAS pain) Benchmark 3.3 Figure 5 Percentage of patients with absent/mild distress from pain at phase start, remaining absent/mild at phase end inpatient setting Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 11
Figure 6 Percentage of patients with absent/mild distress from pain at phase start, remaining absent/mild at phase end ambulatory & community settings Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 12
Benchmark 3.4 Figure 7 Percentage of patients with moderate/severe distress from pain at phase start, with absent/mild distress from pain at phase end inpatient setting Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 13
Figure 8 Percentage of patients with moderate/severe distress from pain at phase start, with absent/mild distress from pain at phase end ambulatory & community settings Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 14
Section 3 Outcome measures in detail 3.1 Outcome measure 1 Time from referral to first contact Time from referral to first contact reports responsiveness of palliative care services to patient needs. This benchmark was set after consultation with participants at the PCOC national benchmarking workshops in 2009. Participants acknowledged that, whilst there is wide variation in the delivery of palliative care across the country, access to palliative care should be measured based on patient need rather than service availability. As a result, services operating 5 days a week (Monday-Friday) are not distinguished from services operating 7 days a week (all services are being benchmarked together). Benchmark 1: This measure relates to the time taken for patients to be contacted by a clinician following referral. To meet the benchmark for this measure, at least 90% of patients must be contacted on the day of, or the day following receipt of referral. The time from referral to first contact is calculated as the time from the date of referral received to either the date of first contact (if provided) or the episode start date. Table 7 Time from referral to first contact by setting Time (in days) Inpatient Ambulatory & community VIC % All Services % VIC % All Services % Same day or following day 2,561 92.5 10,367 91.6 1,447 40.6 4,710 51.0 2-7 days 169 6.1 787 7.0 1,418 39.8 3,128 33.8 8-14 days 19 0.7 96 0.8 426 11.9 767 8.3 Greater than 14 days 19 0.7 68 0.6 276 7.7 638 6.9 Average 1.2 na 1.3 na 3.4 na 2.9 na Median 1 na 1 na 2 na 1 na Note: Episodes where referral date was not recorded are excluded from the table. In addition, all records where time from referral to first contact was greater than 7 days were considered to be atypical and were assumed to equal 7 days for the purpose of calculating the average and median time. There were 740 instances greater than 7 days from referral to first contact. Date ready for care has been introduced in the Version 3 PCOC dataset to provide additional information on a service s responsiveness to patient need. Date ready for care will be reviewed for inclusion in outcome measure 1 in 2014. Table 20 on page 33 gives a summary of the time between date ready for care and episode start. Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 15
Figure 9 Trends in time from referral to first contact by setting Inpatient setting for Victorian services Inpatient setting for all services Ambulatory & community settings for Victorian services Ambulatory & community settings for all services Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 16
3.2 Outcome measure 2 Time in unstable phase The unstable phase type, by nature of its definition, alerts clinical staff to the need for urgent changes to the patient s plan of care or that emergency intervention is required. Those patients assessed to be in the unstable phase require intense review for a short period of time. An unstable phase is triggered if: a patient experiences a new, unanticipated problem, and/or a patient experiences a rapid increase in the severity of an existing problem, and/or a patient s family/carers experience a sudden change in circumstances that adversely impacts the patients care Patients move out of the unstable phases in one of two ways: A new plan of care has been put in place, has been reviewed and does not require any additional changes. This does not necessarily mean that the symptom/crisis has been fully resolved. However, the clinical team will have a clear diagnosis and a plan for the patient s care. In this situation, the patient will move to either the stable or deteriorating phase The patient is likely to die within a matter of days. In this situation, the patient will be moved into the terminal phase Prior to Report 14 (July December 2012), there were three benchmarks relating to the time a patient spent in the unstable phase. In Report 14, these three benchmarks were replaced by the following: Benchmark 2: This benchmark relates to time that a patient spends in the unstable phase. To meet this benchmark, at least 90% of unstable phases must last for 3 days or less. Why did this benchmark change? Reason for this benchmark change resulted from feedback from services attending the 2012 PCOC benchmarking workshops was that benchmarks 2.1 & 2.2 should be combined as the first phase/not first phase split did not provide any additional information. There was also general feedback that the within 7 days timeframe did not represent best practice and that it should be reduced. PCOC undertook analysis to determine the target time frame by looking at the top 10 services participating during January June 2012. This analysis identified 3 days or less as the target time frame when 90% was used as the benchmark. Benchmark 2.3 (median time) was considered to be redundant and was also removed from the suite of PCOC benchmarks. Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 17
Table 8 presents descriptive data for this benchmark. Old benchmarks 2.1 and 2.2 have also been included for comparison with results from previous reports. Table 8 Time in unstable phase by setting and occurrence in episode Occurrence of unstable Per cent unstable for < 7 Per cent unstable for 3 days Number of unstable phases Setting phase days or less VIC All Services VIC All Services VIC All Services First phase of episode 1,089 5,094 92.2 91.7 74.7 75.3 Inpatient Not first phase of episode 580 2,035 95.0 94.6 79.7 81.4 Total unstable phases 1,669 7,129 93.2 92.6 76.5 77.1 First phase of episode 177 704 63.8 55.5 50.3 45.9 Ambulatory & Not first phase of episode 413 1,843 72.2 78.7 60.5 67.8 community Total unstable phases 590 2,547 69.7 72.3 57.5 61.8 Interpretation hint: For Victorian services, a total of 1,669 patients in the inpatient setting were in the unstable phase. Of these unstable phases, 76.5% remained for 3 days or less. This was lower than the 77.1% seen across all participating services. For Victorian services, a total of 590 patients in the ambulatory/community setting were in the unstable phase. Of these unstable phases, 57.5% remained for 3 days or less. This was lower than the 61.8% seen across all participating services. Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 18
3.3 Outcome measure 3 Change in pain Pain management is acknowledged as a core business of palliative care services. The Palliative Care Problem Severity Score (PCPSS) and Symptom Assessment Scale (SAS) provide two different perspectives of pain: the SAS is patient rated, while the PCPSS is clinician rated. There are two benchmarks related to each tool: one relating to the management of pain for patients with absent or mild pain, and the other relating to the management of pain for patients with moderate or severe pain. The PCPSS is rated from 0 to 3 (absent, mild, moderate and severe) whereas the SAS is rated on a scale of 0 to 10 (0 = absent and 10 = the worst possible). For the analysis in this report SAS scores have been grouped as 0 absent, 1-3 mild, 4-7 moderate and 8-10 severe. Phase records must have valid start and end scores for the PCPSS and/or SAS clinical assessment tools to be included in the benchmarks. Benchmark 3.1: This benchmark relates to patients who have absent or mild pain at the start of their phase of palliative care, as rated via the PCPSS clinical tool. To meet this benchmark, 90% of these phases must end with the patient still experiencing only absent or mild pain. Table 9 shows trends in this benchmark over the last four reports. Table 9 Trends in Benchmark 3.1: Patients experience absent/mild pain at phase start, remaining absent/mild at phase end (PCPSS) by setting VIC All Services Setting Jul Dec 2011 Jan Jun 2012 Jul Dec 2012 Jan Jun 2013 Jul Dec 2011 Jan Jun 2012 Jul Dec 2012 Jan Jun 2013 Inpatient Number 1,702 2,025 2,508 2,947 5,577 7,362 8,738 10,243 % 81.7 83.5 83.6 85.6 81.6 86.2 86.0 88.5 Ambulatory & Number 1,332 1,765 2,375 2,202 2,339 3,276 8,698 8,842 community % 77.5 80.5 82.7 81.3 77.5 80.0 83.4 82.6 Benchmark 3.2: This benchmark relates to patients who have moderate or severe pain at the start of their phase of palliative care, as rated via the PCPSS clinical tool. To meet this benchmark, 60% of these phases must end with the patient s pain reduced to being absent or mild. Table 10 shows trends in this benchmark over the last four reports. Table 10 Trends in Benchmark 3.2: Patients experience moderate/severe pain at phase start, with absent/mild pain at phase end (PCPSS) by setting VIC All Services Setting Jul Dec 2011 Jan Jun 2012 Jul Dec 2012 Jan Jun 2013 Jul Dec 2011 Jan Jun 2012 Jul Dec 2012 Jan Jun 2013 Inpatient Number 485 516 585 710 1,986 2,220 2,457 2,740 % 54.1 49.5 51.9 58.3 53.6 51.1 52.8 56.2 Ambulatory & Number 398 389 441 375 697 742 1,552 1,625 community % 56.2 48.7 45.6 46.6 55.4 48.3 51.6 51.7 Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 19
Benchmark 3.3: This benchmark relates to patients who have absent or mild pain at the start of their phase of palliative care, as rated via the SAS clinical tool. To meet this benchmark, 90% of these phases must end with the patient still experiencing only absent or mild pain. Table 11 shows trends in this benchmark over the last four reports. Table 11 Trends in Benchmark 3.3: Patients experience absent/mild pain at phase start, remaining absent/mild at phase end (SAS) by setting VIC All Services Setting Jul Dec 2011 Jan Jun 2012 Jul Dec 2012 Jan Jun 2013 Jul Dec 2011 Jan Jun 2012 Jul Dec 2012 Jan Jun 2013 Inpatient Number 1,572 1,805 2,295 2,693 6,476 8,179 9,638 10,228 % 81.9 81.0 83.0 86.1 82.5 84.5 85.3 87.8 Ambulatory & Number 1,394 1,849 2,445 2,270 2,816 4,112 8,221 8,255 community % 78.3 81.3 81.9 82.1 78.1 80.9 81.8 81.2 Benchmark 3.4: This benchmark relates to patients who have moderate or severe pain at the start of their phase of palliative care, as rated via the SAS clinical tool. To meet this benchmark, 60% of these phases must end with the patient s pain reduced to being absent or mild. Table 12 shows trends in this benchmark over the last four reports. Table 12 Trends in Benchmark 3.4: Patients experience moderate/severe pain at phase start, with absent/mild pain at phase end (SAS) by setting VIC All Services Setting Jul Dec 2011 Jan Jun 2012 Jul Dec 2012 Jan Jun 2013 Jul Dec 2011 Jan Jun 2012 Jul Dec 2012 Jan Jun 2013 Inpatient Number 403 534 589 673 2,216 2,789 2,870 3,028 % 53.0 49.3 51.1 54.3 49.6 47.9 49.0 51.4 Ambulatory & Number 383 416 478 415 787 911 1,666 1,746 community % 60.0 53.8 50.4 48.5 56.2 45.1 46.8 47.5 Interpretation hint: Following a review of the quality of the data submitted to PCOC for January June 2012 an improvement was made to the calculation of the Change in Pain outcome measure. The new calculation included situations where episodes (and hence phases) end due to discharge or a change in the setting/type of care where the SAS and PCPSS pain assessments have been provided to PCOC. Services may notice a change in their benchmark scores from prior reports and should be cautious when comparing their scores. Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 20
Figure 10 Trends in outcome measure 3 Benchmark 3.1: PCPSS - Absent/mild pain at both start and end of phase Benchmark 3.2: PCPSS - Mod/severe pain at start with absent/mild pain at end Benchmark 3.3: SAS - Absent/mild pain at both start and end of phase Benchmark 3.4: SAS - Mod/severe pain at start with absent/mild pain at end Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 21
3.4 Outcome measure 4 Change in symptoms relative to the baseline national average (X-CAS) Outcome measure 4 includes a suite of case-mix adjusted scores used to compare the change in symptoms for similar patients i.e. patients in the same phase who started with the same level of symptom. Eight symptoms are included in this report: PCPSS SAS 4.1 Pain 4.5 Pain 4.2 Other symptoms 4.6 Nausea 4.3 Family/carer 4.7 Breathing problems 4.4 Psychological/spiritual 4.8 Bowel problems The suite of benchmarks included in outcome measure 4 are generally referred to as X-CAS CAS standing for Case-mix Adjusted Score, and the X to represent that multiple symptoms are included. Interpretation hint: The X-CAS measures are calculated relative to a baseline reference period (currently July-December 2008). As a result: If X-CAS is greater than 0 then on average, your patients change in symptom was better than similar patients in the baseline reference period. If X-CAS is equal to 0 then on average, your patients change in symptom was about the same as similar patients in the baseline reference period. If X-CAS is less than 0 then on average, your patients change in symptom was worse than similar patients in the baseline reference period. As X-CAS looks at change in symptom, they are only able to be calculated on phases which ended in phase change or discharge (as the phase end scores are required to determine the change). Bereavement phases are excluded from the analysis. A more technical explanation of X-CAS is included in Appendix B. Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 22
Figure 11 Trends in outcome measure 4 Palliative Care Problem Severity Score (PCPSS) Benchmark 4.1: Pain Benchmark 4.2: Other symptoms Benchmark 4.3: Family/carer Benchmark 4.4: Psychological/spiritual Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 23
Figure 12 Trends in outcome measure 4 Symptom Assessment Scale (SAS) Benchmark 4.5: Pain Benchmark 4.6: Nausea Benchmark 4.7: Breathing problems Benchmark 4.8: Bowel problems Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 24
Section 4 - Descriptive analysis There are three levels of PCOC data items patient, episode and phase. The broad detail is found at the patient level, where the data items look at patient demographics. At the episode level, the items focus on characterising each setting of palliative care. They also describe the reasons behind why and how palliative care episodes start/end, the level of support patients receive both before and after an episode and (where applicable) the setting in which the patient died. The clinical focus of PCOC is at the phase level. The items at this level describe the patient s stage of illness, functional impairment as well as their levels of pain and other symptom distress. The items at the phase level are used to quantify patient outcomes, and are the focus of the PCOC benchmarks in the previous sections. This section provides an overview of the data submitted by Victorian services at each level for the current reporting period. Summaries of the national data are included for comparative purposes. Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 25
4.1 Profile of palliative care patients The information collected on each patient includes Indigenous status, sex, main language spoken at home and country of birth. Table 13 shows the Indigenous status for all patients, both in Victoria and nationally. Non-disclosure of Indigenous status can result in cultural issues not being identified. Table 13 Indigenous status Indigenous status VIC % All Services % Aboriginal but not Torres Strait Islander origin 17 0.4 134 0.8 Torres Strait Islander but not Aboriginal origin 8 0.2 25 0.2 Both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander origin 2 0.0 19 0.1 Neither Aboriginal nor Torres Strait Islander origin 4,617 97.3 15,701 96.2 Not stated/inadequately described 99 2.1 437 2.7 Total 4,743 100.0 16,316 100.0 Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 26
The following two tables show the preferred language spoken at home and the country of birth respectively for all patients. To allow for comparison with the broader Australian community the list of languages in Table 14 is in descending order of the most frequently spoken languages according to the 2006 Census (e.g. Greek was the third most frequently spoken language in the 2006 Census). The same approach has been taken with Table 15 (e.g. Italy was the third highest country of birth in the 2006 Census). All other languages and countries have been grouped together to form the categories All other languages and All other countries respectively. Table 14 Preferred language spoken at home Preferred Language VIC % All Services % English 3,770 79.5 13,800 84.6 Italian 238 5.0 369 2.3 Greek 142 3.0 230 1.4 Cantonese/Mandarin 50 1.1 146 0.9 Arabic 41 0.9 86 0.5 Vietnamese 30 0.6 55 0.3 Spanish/Portuguese 13 0.3 44 0.3 Filipino 5 0.1 16 0.1 German 12 0.3 31 0.2 Hindi 3 0.1 19 0.1 Macedonian/Croatian 49 1.0 112 0.7 Korean 3 0.1 23 0.1 Turkish 23 0.5 28 0.2 Polish 8 0.2 24 0.1 Maltese 16 0.3 26 0.2 All other languages 248 5.2 461 2.8 Not stated/inadequately described 92 1.9 846 5.2 Total 4,743 100.0 16,316 100.0 Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 27
Table 15 Country of birth Country of birth VIC % All Services % Australia 2,451 51.7 10,195 62.5 England 201 4.2 1,153 7.1 New Zealand 52 1.1 298 1.8 China 71 1.5 169 1.0 Italy 375 7.9 678 4.2 Vietnam 59 1.2 105 0.6 India 35 0.7 117 0.7 Scotland 71 1.5 248 1.5 Philippines 17 0.4 57 0.3 Greece 224 4.7 365 2.2 Germany 69 1.5 216 1.3 South Africa 8 0.2 78 0.5 Malaysia 17 0.4 56 0.3 Netherlands 59 1.2 177 1.1 Lebanon 28 0.6 71 0.4 All other countries 904 19.1 2,024 12.4 Not stated/inadequately described 102 2.2 309 1.9 Total 4,743 100.0 16,316 100.0 Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 28
Table 16 and Table 17 present a breakdown of malignant and non-malignant diagnosis. The primary diagnosis was not stated for 111 (2.3%) patients in Victoria and was not stated for 209 (1.3%) patients nationally. Table 16 Primary diagnosis - malignant Primary diagnosis VIC % malignant diagnosis % all diagnosis All Services % malignant diagnosis % all diagnosis Bone and soft tissue 47 1.2 1.0 168 1.3 1.0 Breast 279 7.4 5.9 1,030 7.9 6.3 CNS 83 2.2 1.7 291 2.2 1.8 Colorectal 438 11.6 9.2 1,461 11.2 9.0 Other GIT 377 10.0 7.9 1,119 8.5 6.9 Haematological 218 5.8 4.6 771 5.9 4.7 Head and neck 213 5.6 4.5 742 5.7 4.5 Lung 790 21.0 16.7 2,820 21.5 17.3 Pancreas 245 6.5 5.2 877 6.7 5.4 Prostate 227 6.0 4.8 937 7.2 5.7 Other urological 162 4.3 3.4 568 4.3 3.5 Gynaecological 185 4.9 3.9 691 5.3 4.2 Skin 105 2.8 2.2 524 4.0 3.2 Unknown primary 104 2.8 2.2 378 2.9 2.3 Other primary malignancy 258 6.8 5.4 643 4.9 3.9 Malignant not further defined 39 1.0 0.8 73 0.6 0.4 All malignant 3,770 100.0 79.5 13,093 100.0 80.2 Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 29
Table 17 Primary diagnosis - non-malignant Primary diagnosis VIC % non-malignant diagnosis % all diagnosis All Services % non-malignant diagnosis % all diagnosis Cardiovascular disease 141 16.4 3.0 498 16.5 3.1 HIV/AIDS 1 0.1 0.0 6 0.2 0.0 End stage kidney disease 90 10.4 1.9 313 10.4 1.9 Stroke 38 4.4 0.8 109 3.6 0.7 Motor neurone disease 18 2.1 0.4 82 2.7 0.5 Alzheimer s dementia 24 2.8 0.5 98 3.3 0.6 Other dementia 42 4.9 0.9 126 4.2 0.8 Other neurological disease 137 15.9 2.9 399 13.2 2.4 Respiratory failure 149 17.3 3.1 489 16.2 3.0 End stage liver disease 17 2.0 0.4 73 2.4 0.4 Diabetes and its complications 4 0.5 0.1 10 0.3 0.1 Sepsis 8 0.9 0.2 48 1.6 0.3 Multiple organ failure 6 0.7 0.1 50 1.7 0.3 Other non-malignancy 146 16.9 3.1 649 21.5 4.0 Non-malignant not further defined 41 4.8 0.9 64 2.1 0.4 All non-malignant 862 100.0 18.2 3,014 100.0 18.5 Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 30
4.2 Profile of palliative care episodes An episode of care is a period of contact between a patient and a palliative care service that is provided by one palliative care service and occurs in one setting for the purposes of this report, either as an inpatient or ambulatory and community patient. An episode of palliative care begins on the day the patient is assessed using the five PCOC assessment tools either by face to face or phone contact with the palliative care service and there is agreement between the patient and the service. An episode of palliative care ends when: the principal clinical intent of the care changes and the patient is no longer receiving palliative care or the patient is formally separated from the hospital/hospice/community or the patient dies Table 18 below presents the number and percentage of episodes by age group and gender for the patients in Victoria and at the national level. Age has been calculated as at the beginning of each episode. Table 18 Age group by gender Age group VIC All Services Male % Female % Male % Female % < 15 13 0.4 4 0.1 26 0.2 17 0.2 15-24 5 0.2 9 0.3 20 0.2 25 0.3 25-34 11 0.3 28 0.9 60 0.5 103 1.1 35-44 76 2.3 84 2.7 248 2.2 294 3.1 45-54 238 7.2 245 8.0 722 6.4 866 9.1 55-64 480 14.5 463 15.2 1,803 16.1 1,460 15.4 65-74 849 25.7 668 21.9 3,139 28.0 2,152 22.7 75-84 1,012 30.6 799 26.1 3,269 29.1 2,414 25.4 85+ 624 18.9 756 24.7 1,932 17.2 2,161 22.8 Not stated/inadequately described 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 Total 3,308 100.0 3,056 100.0 11,219 100.0 9,492 100.0 Note: Records where gender was not stated or inadequately described are excluded from the table. Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 31
Referral source refers to the service or organisation from which the patient was referred for each episode of care. Table 19 presents referral source by episode type. Review of referral source can identify opportunities to connect with referral sources that are currently lower than the national referral profile (e.g. a community service with few GP referrals may want to re-address referral or triage practices and look to working more collaboratively). Table 19 Referral source by setting Referral source Inpatient Ambulatory & community VIC % All Services % VIC % All Services % Public hospital - other than inpatient palliative care unit 781 28.1 4,419 38.7 1,851 51.6 3,990 42.9 Private hospital - other than inpatient palliative care unit 561 20.2 1,130 9.9 249 6.9 683 7.4 Public palliative care inpatient unit/hospice 435 15.7 1,075 9.4 153 4.3 720 7.8 Private palliative care inpatient unit/hospice 94 3.4 217 1.9 70 1.9 272 2.9 Outpatient clinic 4 0.1 38 0.3 8 0.2 14 0.2 General medical practitioner 14 0.5 473 4.1 256 7.1 1,392 15.0 Specialist medical practitioner 86 3.1 550 4.8 157 4.4 531 5.7 Community-based palliative care agency 639 23.0 2,415 21.1 11 0.3 104 1.1 Community-based service 82 3.0 252 2.2 45 1.3 116 1.2 Residential aged care facility 13 0.5 139 1.2 535 14.9 812 8.7 Self, carer(s), family or friends 9 0.3 312 2.7 117 3.3 284 3.1 Other 26 0.9 183 1.6 38 1.1 173 1.9 Not stated/inadequately described 33 1.2 222 1.9 100 2.8 199 2.1 Total 2,777 100.0 11,425 100.0 3,590 100.0 9,290 100.0 Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 32
Date ready for care has been introduced in the Version 3 PCOC dataset to provide additional information on a service s responsiveness to patient need. Table 20 gives a summary of the time between date ready for care and episode start. Table 20 Date ready for care to episode start by episode setting Time (in days) Inpatient Ambulatory & community VIC % All Services % VIC % All Services % Same day 1,800 92.9 6,499 90.8 1,146 37.0 5,269 64.7 1-2 days 91 4.7 491 6.9 656 21.2 1,013 12.4 2-7 days 28 1.4 107 1.5 885 28.6 1,165 14.3 8-14 days 6 0.3 24 0.3 263 8.5 397 4.9 Greater than 14 days 12 0.6 37 0.5 149 4.8 297 3.6 Average 0 na 0 na 4 na 2 na Median 0 na 0 na 1 na 0 na Note: Episodes where date ready for care was not recorded are excluded from the table. In addition, all records where time from date ready for care to episode start was greater than 90 days were considered to be atypical and removed from the analysis. Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 33
Table 21 gives a summary of the length of episode for patients in Victoria and nationally. Table 22 details the length of episode by setting. The length of episode is calculated as the number of days between the episode start date and the episode end date. Bereavement phases are excluded from the calculation and episodes that remain open at the end of the reporting period (and hence do not have an episode end date) are also excluded. Table 21 Length of episode (in days) summary by setting Length of episode Inpatient Ambulatory & community VIC All Services VIC All Services Average length of episode 12.0 11.5 40.3 40.9 Median length of episode 7.0 7.0 28.0 30.0 Note: Records where length of episode was greater than 180 days were considered to be atypical and are excluded from the average calculations. Table 22 Length of episode (in days) by setting Length of episode Inpatient Ambulatory & community VIC % All Services % VIC % All Services % Same day 185 6.9 602 5.3 78 2.2 385 4.5 1-2 days 500 18.6 2,215 19.6 227 6.5 477 5.5 3-4 days 356 13.2 1,594 14.1 196 5.7 427 5.0 5-7 days 401 14.9 1,773 15.7 256 7.4 578 6.7 8-14 days 539 20.0 2,308 20.5 425 12.3 984 11.4 15-21 days 299 11.1 1,138 10.1 293 8.4 708 8.2 22-30 days 170 6.3 719 6.4 335 9.7 769 8.9 31-60 days 186 6.9 724 6.4 625 18.0 1,550 18.0 61-90 days 41 1.5 139 1.2 313 9.0 853 9.9 Greater than 90 days 18 0.7 73 0.6 720 20.8 1,886 21.9 Total 2,695 100.0 11,285 100.0 3,468 100.0 8,617 100.0 Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 34
Table 23 How episodes start and end for Victorian services inpatient setting How episodes ended Discharged to: How episode started All other Usual Interim Another Death reasons** accommodation accommodation hospital Total Admitted from: N % N % N % N % N % N % - usual accommodation 377 33.9 22 2.0 83 7.5 602 54.2 27 2.4 1,111 100.0 - other than usual accommodation 12 32.4 0 0.0 1 2.7 24 64.9 0 0.0 37 100.0 - another hospital (transferred) 99 15.0 20 3.0 25 3.8 513 77.6 4 0.6 661 100.0 - acute care in other ward (transferred) 81 20.3 9 2.3 13 3.3 292 73.2 4 1.0 399 100.0 All other reasons* 5 26.3 1 5.3 0 0.0 13 68.4 0 0.0 19 100.0 Total 574 25.8 52 2.3 122 5.5 1,444 64.8 35 1.6 2,227 100.0 Table 24 How episodes start and end for all services inpatient setting How episodes ended Discharged to: How episode started All other Usual Interim Another Death reasons** accommodation accommodation hospital Total Admitted from: N % N % N % N % N % N % - usual accommodation 2,456 38.0 208 3.2 488 7.5 3,064 47.4 251 3.9 6,467 100.0 - other than usual accommodation 47 29.4 24 15.0 17 10.6 69 43.1 3 1.9 160 100.0 - another hospital (transferred) 450 16.2 90 3.2 137 4.9 2,045 73.6 57 2.1 2,779 100.0 - acute care in other ward (transferred) 265 22.9 28 2.4 69 6.0 770 66.4 27 2.3 1,159 100.0 All other reasons* 72 34.4 12 5.7 23 11.0 91 43.5 11 5.3 209 100.0 Total 3,290 30.5 362 3.4 734 6.8 6,039 56.1 349 3.2 10,774 100.0 Note: All episodes where episode start mode or episode end mode was not stated/inadequately described are excluded from the table. Episodes that remain open at the end of the reporting period (and hence do not have an episode end date) are also excluded. * Includes: Change from acute care to palliative care while remaining on same ward; Change of sub-acute/non-acute care type ** Includes: Change from palliative care to acute care - different ward; Change from palliative care to acute care - same ward Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 35
Table 25 How episodes start and end for Victorian services ambulatory and community setting How episodes ended How episode started Admitted for inpatient: All other Death Palliative care Acute care reasons* Total N % N % N % N % N % Transferred from inpatient palliative care 530 46.7 285 25.1 225 19.8 95 8.4 1,135 100.0 Other 807 38.2 403 19.1 617 29.2 288 13.6 2,115 100.0 Total 1,337 41.1 688 21.2 842 25.9 383 11.8 3,250 100.0 Table 26 How episodes start and end for all services ambulatory and community setting How episode started Admitted for inpatient: Palliative care Acute care How episodes ended Death All other reasons* N % N % N % N % N % Transferred from inpatient palliative care 870 28.2 1,079 35.0 763 24.7 375 12.1 3,087 100.0 Other 1,509 28.8 862 16.4 1,882 35.9 991 18.9 5,244 100.0 Total 2,379 28.6 1,941 23.3 2,645 31.7 1,366 16.4 8,331 100.0 Note: All episodes where episode start mode or episode end mode was not stated/inadequately described are excluded from the table. Episodes that remain open at the end of the reporting period (and hence do not have an episode end date) are also excluded. * Includes: Discharged/case closure, admitted to another palliative care service, admitted to primary health care and other categories. Table 27 Place of death ambulatory and community setting Place of death VIC % All Services % Private residence 492 54.6 1,641 60.5 Residential aged care setting 274 30.4 534 19.7 Not stated/inadequately described 135 15.0 539 19.9 Total 901 100.0 2,714 100.0 Total Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 36
4.3 Profile of palliative care phases The palliative care phase type describes the stage of the patient s illness and provides a clinical indication of the level of care a patient requires. There are five palliative care phase types; stable, unstable, deteriorating, terminal and bereaved. The stable, unstable, deteriorating and terminal phase types can occur in any sequence and a patient may move back and forth between them. Table 28 Number of phases by phase type and setting Phase type Inpatient Ambulatory & community VIC % All Services % VIC % All Services % Stable 1,827 27.0 7,084 25.3 2,479 41.2 7,604 38.4 Unstable 1,669 24.6 7,129 25.5 590 9.8 2,547 12.9 Deteriorating 1,890 27.9 7,809 27.9 2,554 42.4 7,919 40.0 Terminal 1,137 16.8 4,853 17.3 398 6.6 1,430 7.2 Bereaved 248 3.7 1,107 4.0 1 0.0 279 1.4 All phases 6,771 100.0 27,982 100.0 6,022 100.0 19,779 100.0 Table 29 Average phase length (in days) by phase type and setting Phase type Inpatient Ambulatory & community VIC All Services VIC All Services Stable 7.1 7.4 25.0 21.1 Unstable 2.6 2.7 6.2 6.4 Deteriorating 5.7 5.3 16.4 14.3 Terminal 2.1 2.1 2.8 3.0 Bereaved 1.0 1.1 1.0 16.7 Note: Phase records where phase length was greater than 90 days were considered to be atypical and are excluded from the average calculations. Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 37
Table 30 presents information relating to the manner in which stable phases ended. A stable phase will end if a patient moves into a different phase (phase change), is discharged or dies. Figure 13 and Figure 14 summarise the movement of patients out of the stable phase for the inpatient and ambulatory and community settings. This movement from one phase to another is referred to as phase progression. The phase progression information is derived by PCOC. Similar information is presented for the unstable, deteriorating and terminal phases on the following pages. Table 30 How stable phases end by setting How stable phases end Inpatient Ambulatory & community VIC % All Services % VIC % All Services % Patient moved into another phase 934 51.1 3,636 51.3 1,215 49.0 4,597 60.5 Discharge/case closure 837 45.8 3,204 45.2 1,128 45.5 2,438 32.1 Died 51 2.8 133 1.9 120 4.8 424 5.6 Not stated/inadequately described 5 0.3 111 1.6 16 0.6 145 1.9 Total 1,827 100.0 7,084 100.0 2,479 100.0 7,604 100.0 Figure 13 Stable phase progression inpatient setting Figure 14 Stable phase progression ambulatory & community settings Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 38
Table 31 How unstable phases end by setting How unstable phases end Inpatient Ambulatory & community VIC % All Services % VIC % All Services % Patient moved into another phase 1,482 88.8 6,482 90.9 387 65.6 1,688 66.3 Discharge/case closure 87 5.2 370 5.2 162 27.5 686 26.9 Died 80 4.8 237 3.3 35 5.9 144 5.7 Not stated/inadequately described 20 1.2 40 0.6 6 1.0 29 1.1 Total 1,669 100.0 7,129 100.0 590 100.0 2,547 100.0 Figure 15 Unstable phase progression inpatient setting Figure 16 Unstable phase progression ambulatory & community settings Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 39
Table 32 How deteriorating phases end by setting How deteriorating phases end Inpatient Ambulatory & community VIC % All Services % VIC % All Services % Patient moved into another phase 1,369 72.4 5,388 69.0 1,036 40.6 4,569 57.7 Discharge/case closure 214 11.3 1,268 16.2 1,125 44.0 2,304 29.1 Died 293 15.5 1,089 13.9 381 14.9 966 12.2 Not stated/inadequately described 14 0.7 64 0.8 12 0.5 80 1.0 Total 1,890 100.0 7,809 100.0 2,554 100.0 7,919 100.0 Figure 17 Deteriorating phase progression inpatient setting Figure 18 Deteriorating phase progression ambulatory & community settings Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 40
Table 33 How terminal phases end by setting How terminal phases end Inpatient Ambulatory & community VIC % All Services % VIC % All Services % Patient moved into another phase 71 6.2 211 4.3 26 6.5 194 13.6 Discharge/case closure 17 1.5 97 2.0 38 9.5 94 6.6 Died 1,046 92.0 4,507 92.9 333 83.7 1,137 79.5 Not stated/inadequately described 3 0.3 38 0.8 1 0.3 5 0.3 Total 1,137 100.0 4,853 100.0 398 100.0 1,430 100.0 Figure 19 Terminal phase progression inpatient setting Figure 20 Terminal phase progression ambulatory & community settings Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 41
The Palliative Care Problem Severity Score (PCPSS) is a clinician rated screening tool to assess the overall degree of problems within four key palliative care domains (pain, other symptoms, psychological/spiritual and family/carer). The ratings are: 0 - absent, 1 - mild, 2 - moderate and 3 - severe. The use of this tool provides an opportunity to assist in the need or urgency of intervention e.g. a score of severe in the family/carer domain could trigger a more detailed assessment by a skilled social worker or pastoral care worker to establish appropriate treatment or intervention. Table 34 and Table 35 show the percentage scores for the inpatient and ambulatory and community settings respectively for both Victorian services and nationally. Table 34 Profile of PCPSS at beginning of phase by phase type inpatient setting (percentages) Phase type VIC All Services Problem severity Absent Mild Moderate Severe Absent Mild Moderate Severe Stable Pain 47.9 37.0 13.1 2.0 45.4 38.3 13.4 2.8 Other symptoms 22.5 48.8 26.0 2.7 24.0 46.9 24.0 5.2 Psychological/spiritual 31.4 47.1 16.7 4.8 30.2 47.8 17.1 4.9 Family/carer 37.5 39.9 12.7 9.9 37.0 39.4 16.4 7.1 Unstable Pain 33.7 28.4 28.3 9.7 27.9 29.3 28.8 14.1 Other symptoms 15.5 35.5 39.3 9.7 13.2 30.4 39.7 16.7 Psychological/spiritual 23.1 43.2 24.9 8.8 20.3 39.8 28.8 11.1 Family/carer 27.6 40.2 22.5 9.7 25.2 35.0 27.7 12.1 Deteriorating Pain 44.7 30.1 19.1 6.1 37.4 34.5 20.7 7.4 Other symptoms 16.7 36.8 34.9 11.6 15.8 34.0 35.5 14.6 Psychological/spiritual 27.9 39.3 22.6 10.2 25.1 40.7 24.7 9.4 Family/carer 28.1 37.0 23.3 11.5 25.6 37.2 25.4 11.9 Terminal Pain 45.1 26.9 20.3 7.7 46.7 30.2 16.3 6.8 Other symptoms 30.7 27.5 26.2 15.6 34.5 27.3 23.8 14.4 Psychological/spiritual 48.8 29.3 14.8 7.1 48.6 29.0 14.2 8.3 Family/carer 22.0 29.8 27.6 20.6 21.4 30.8 28.8 19.0 Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 42
Table 35 Profile of PCPSS at beginning of phase by phase type ambulatory and community settings (percentages) Phase type VIC All Services Problem severity Absent Mild Moderate Severe Absent Mild Moderate Severe Stable Pain 35.5 55.0 8.9 0.6 39.8 49.5 9.7 1.0 Other symptoms 9.6 67.3 21.6 1.5 14.1 60.2 23.5 2.2 Psychological/spiritual 18.6 64.9 15.0 1.6 27.9 56.4 13.9 1.9 Family/carer 16.4 58.2 23.2 2.2 31.2 48.3 18.0 2.6 Unstable Pain 16.3 26.3 33.9 23.5 18.2 28.5 32.5 20.9 Other symptoms 3.4 28.0 50.2 18.4 5.6 26.6 48.9 18.9 Psychological/spiritual 9.6 48.8 30.5 11.1 10.9 44.5 35.1 9.5 Family/carer 13.5 33.6 38.8 14.2 16.0 34.1 36.8 13.1 Deteriorating Pain 23.2 51.2 22.0 3.6 29.4 45.4 21.4 3.8 Other symptoms 4.0 39.7 49.2 7.0 7.0 40.2 45.4 7.4 Psychological/spiritual 9.4 55.1 31.1 4.4 17.7 52.3 26.3 3.7 Family/carer 8.9 36.6 46.4 8.1 20.5 39.9 33.6 6.0 Terminal Pain 30.7 49.0 15.4 4.9 36.6 40.0 18.9 4.5 Other symptoms 12.3 35.7 37.0 15.0 19.0 34.6 32.4 14.1 Psychological/spiritual 34.8 40.4 16.7 8.1 40.4 36.9 17.1 5.7 Family/carer 7.6 27.7 42.9 21.7 10.4 33.5 40.8 15.3 The Symptom Assessment Scale (SAS) is a patient rated assessment tool and reports a level of distress using a visual analogue scale from 0 - no problems to 10 - worst possible problems. The SAS reports on seven symptoms identified as the main cancer and palliative care problems (difficulty sleeping, appetite problems, nausea, bowel problems, breathing problems, fatigue and pain). It provides a clinical picture of these seven symptoms from the patients perspective e.g. a patient may rate their nausea at 8, hence an alert for further review. The SAS scores are grouped in Table 36 and Table 37 on the following pages using the same categories as the PCPSS i.e. absent (0), mild (1-3), moderate (4-7) and severe (8-10). Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 43
Table 36 Profile of SAS scores at beginning of phase by phase type inpatient setting (percentages) Phase type VIC All Services Symptom distress 0 (Absent) 1-3 (Mild) 4-7 (Moderate) 8-10 (Severe) 0 (Absent) 1-3 (Mild) 4-7 (Moderate) 8-10 (Severe) Stable Difficulty sleeping 67.9 22.8 8.6 0.7 63.9 21.7 12.6 1.8 Appetite problems 52.7 24.6 19.9 2.8 50.7 24.8 20.4 4.2 Nausea 81.8 12.6 5.0 0.6 78.5 14.0 6.6 0.9 Bowel problems 60.2 26.8 10.9 2.1 58.4 24.0 14.7 2.9 Breathing problems 64.6 20.0 13.0 2.4 62.5 20.3 14.1 3.1 Fatigue 24.9 23.8 43.8 7.5 24.3 23.6 41.7 10.4 Pain 47.6 34.6 15.9 1.9 44.9 33.1 18.9 3.0 Unstable Difficulty sleeping 62.2 17.3 16.7 3.7 53.5 19.6 21.1 5.8 Appetite problems 44.8 22.5 24.1 8.6 38.2 21.3 30.1 10.4 Nausea 73.8 13.3 10.6 2.4 66.2 14.9 13.8 5.0 Bowel problems 54.8 25.5 16.2 3.5 49.2 22.9 20.6 7.3 Breathing problems 57.8 19.7 16.1 6.4 53.9 18.4 18.6 9.1 Fatigue 20.3 17.5 45.9 16.3 19.3 14.9 45.3 20.6 Pain 35.9 26.0 30.2 7.9 30.1 24.8 31.8 13.3 Deteriorating Difficulty sleeping 74.2 14.7 9.6 1.6 66.4 16.0 14.1 3.4 Appetite problems 54.9 16.1 20.2 8.7 48.3 18.2 24.3 9.3 Nausea 81.9 10.4 6.4 1.2 75.6 12.8 9.1 2.5 Bowel problems 61.7 21.5 13.0 3.7 57.2 21.0 16.8 5.0 Breathing problems 59.2 19.3 15.9 5.7 55.1 18.5 18.6 7.7 Fatigue 25.0 14.1 39.5 21.4 24.0 12.8 38.8 24.4 Pain 45.8 26.5 23.5 4.2 38.7 27.9 26.5 6.9 Terminal Difficulty sleeping 91.3 4.4 3.7 0.6 88.2 6.0 4.4 1.4 Appetite problems 86.7 3.1 4.9 5.3 83.7 5.0 5.8 5.5 Nausea 94.6 2.5 2.0 0.9 91.9 4.2 2.8 1.2 Bowel problems 81.4 9.0 7.5 2.2 81.4 9.1 6.7 2.8 Breathing problems 64.0 14.4 14.1 7.5 64.5 13.2 13.8 8.5 Fatigue 62.0 4.9 12.7 20.4 67.0 5.0 11.5 16.5 Pain 49.9 24.2 20.9 4.9 55.5 22.6 17.1 4.8 Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 44
Table 37 Profile of SAS scores at beginning of phase by phase type ambulatory and community settings (percentages) Phase type VIC All Services Symptom distress 0 (Absent) 1-3 (Mild) 4-7 (Moderate) 8-10 (Severe) 0 (Absent) 1-3 (Mild) 4-7 (Moderate) 8-10 (Severe) Stable Difficulty sleeping 49.9 41.6 7.9 0.6 59.9 28.0 10.6 1.5 Appetite problems 28.8 47.3 21.8 2.1 43.0 33.4 20.6 3.0 Nausea 74.8 21.8 3.0 0.3 77.3 17.9 4.2 0.5 Bowel problems 63.8 30.0 5.6 0.6 66.4 24.5 7.8 1.3 Breathing problems 47.7 40.2 11.0 1.1 49.9 31.5 16.0 2.5 Fatigue 6.9 46.6 42.0 4.5 11.5 31.2 47.8 9.6 Pain 39.7 48.8 10.9 0.7 43.5 40.5 14.4 1.6 Unstable Difficulty sleeping 38.4 36.6 21.8 3.3 44.3 22.4 26.1 7.2 Appetite problems 23.4 30.0 38.9 7.7 31.4 21.6 34.1 12.9 Nausea 57.9 20.1 16.9 5.1 59.9 17.2 16.1 6.8 Bowel problems 55.6 29.3 12.7 2.4 53.1 22.9 18.2 5.8 Breathing problems 45.6 29.3 20.1 5.0 45.8 23.3 22.7 8.1 Fatigue 5.3 23.9 56.9 13.9 6.5 13.7 54.0 25.8 Pain 18.6 25.3 36.1 20.0 20.0 23.2 36.1 20.7 Deteriorating Difficulty sleeping 44.2 41.2 13.3 1.2 55.3 26.4 15.9 2.4 Appetite problems 19.7 37.8 35.5 7.0 35.4 27.3 30.0 7.4 Nausea 61.5 29.3 8.1 1.2 68.6 21.7 8.4 1.4 Bowel problems 52.0 36.9 10.0 1.2 59.3 26.6 11.9 2.2 Breathing problems 36.6 42.7 18.7 2.0 41.3 31.8 22.4 4.5 Fatigue 4.8 21.6 60.2 13.4 6.9 16.2 56.6 20.3 Pain 26.4 47.6 22.9 3.0 33.7 38.1 24.2 4.1 Terminal Difficulty sleeping 74.2 15.7 9.0 1.1 74.1 12.1 10.1 3.7 Appetite problems 63.0 6.5 10.6 19.8 70.3 5.2 8.3 16.2 Nausea 80.9 13.2 5.4 0.5 84.7 8.8 5.6 0.9 Bowel problems 53.6 30.0 14.2 2.2 71.4 17.4 9.0 2.1 Breathing problems 47.9 28.9 18.7 4.5 50.3 22.7 19.7 7.4 Fatigue 36.6 4.5 19.6 39.3 43.6 3.8 13.6 39.0 Pain 34.7 46.9 14.8 3.6 42.6 33.7 19.0 4.6 Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 45
The Australia-modified Karnofsky Performance Status (AKPS) is a measure of the patient s overall performance status or ability to perform their activities of daily living. It is a single score between 0 and 100 assigned by a clinician based on observations of a patient s ability to perform common tasks relating to activity, work and self-care. A score of 100 signifies normal physical abilities with no evidence of disease. Decreasing numbers indicate a reduced performance status. The AKPS is often used in assessment of prognosis and is applicable to both inpatient and community palliative care. Table 38 shows the data for the AKPS at phase start. Table 38 Australia-modified Karnofsky Performance Status (AKPS) at phase start by setting AKPS assessment Inpatient Ambulatory & community VIC % All Services % VIC % All Services % 10 - Comatose or barely rousable 595 9.1 2,614 9.7 180 3.0 599 3.1 20 - Totally bedfast and requiring extensive nursing care 1,555 23.8 5,945 22.1 447 7.4 1,567 8.0 30 - Almost completely bedfast 803 12.3 3,309 12.3 383 6.4 1,163 6.0 40 - In bed more than 50% of the time 1,255 19.2 4,806 17.9 762 12.7 2,044 10.5 50 - Requires considerable assistance 1,379 21.1 4,672 17.4 1,665 27.7 4,384 22.5 60 - Requires occasional assistance 743 11.4 3,093 11.5 1,475 24.5 5,154 26.4 70 - Cares for self 130 2.0 787 2.9 684 11.4 3,086 15.8 80 - Normal activity with effort 42 0.6 258 1.0 184 3.1 911 4.7 90 - Able to carry on normal activity; minor signs or symptoms 7 0.1 74 0.3 49 0.8 223 1.1 100 - Normal; no complaints; no evidence of disease 0 0.0 3 0.0 2 0.0 14 0.1 Not stated/inadequately described 14 0.2 1,314 4.9 190 3.2 355 1.8 Total 6,523 100.0 26,875 100.0 6,021 100.0 19,500 100.0 The Resource Utilisation Groups Activities of Daily Living (RUG-ADL) consists of four items (bed mobility, toileting, transfers and eating) and assesses the level of functional dependence, based on what a person actually does, rather than what they are capable of doing. The RUG-ADL should be assessed on admission, at phase change and at episode end. The figures on the following two pages summarise the total RUG-ADL at the beginning of each phase for inpatients and ambulatory and community patients. The total score on the RUG-ADL ranges from a minimum of 4 (lowest level of functional dependency) to a maximum of 18 (highest level of functional dependency). AKPS & RUG-ADL can be used together to provide a profile of both patient dependency, equipment requirements, need for allied health referrals and carer burden/respite requirements. Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 46
Figure 21 Total RUG-ADL at beginning of phase by phase type inpatient setting Stable Phase Unstable Phase Total RUG-ADL at start of phase Total RUG-ADL at start of phase Deteriorating Phase Terminal Phase Total RUG-ADL at start of phase Total RUG-ADL at start of phase Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 47
Figure 22 Total RUG-ADL at beginning of phase by phase type ambulatory & community settings Stable Phase Unstable Phase Total RUG-ADL at start of phase Total RUG-ADL at start of phase Deteriorating Phase Terminal Phase Total RUG-ADL at start of phase Total RUG-ADL at start of phase Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 48
Appendix A Data Scoping Method The method used to determine which data is included in a PCOC report looks at the phase level records first. All phase records that end within the 6 month reporting period are deemed to be in scope and would be included in the report. The episode and patient records associated with these phases are also deemed to be in scope and hence would also be included in the report. Figure 23 below displays four examples to help visualize this process. Figure 23 Diagram of the PCOC data scoping method In Example 1, the patient (represented by the green line) has one episode (represented by the blue line). This episode has six phases (represented by the purple line segments). All six phases would be included in the report as they all end within the reporting period. Hence, the episode and patient would also be in the report. In Example 2, the patient has two episodes - the first having six phases and the second having seven phases. Looking at the phases associated with the first episode, the last four will be included in the report (as they end within the reporting period). The first two phases would have been included in the previous report. For the phases relating to the second episode, only the first three end within the reporting period, so only these would be included in the report. The following four phases would be included in the next report. Both of the episode records and the patient record would also be included in the report. In Example 3, the patient has one episode and five phases. Only the last three phases will be included in the report as they are the only ones ending within the reporting period (the first two phases would have been included in the previous report). The episode and patient records would be included in the report. In Example 4, the patient again has one episode and five phases. This time, only the first three phases will be included in the report (the last two phases will be included in the next report). Again, the episode and patient records would be included in the report. Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care, Report 15 (January - June 2013) - Victoria 25 th October 2013 49