Assessment and Evaluation Tools

•   Toolkit of Instruments to Measure End-of-Life Care (TIME)
  
  "A fundamental barrier in the quality of care at the end of life is the lack of measurement tools.... The Toolkit takes steps toward crossing this measurement barrier by creating patient-focused, family-centered survey instruments that address the needs and concerns of patients and their families, as defined by them."

•    Edmonton Functional Assessment Tool (EFAT)  
  
  "...specifically designed to evaluate functional performance of patients with advanced cancer over time and to document the degrees of functional performance of patients throughout the terminal phase. It is also useful in the evaluation of the rehabilitation effect."
• Karnofsky Performance Scale
•   Victoria Hospice Society Palliative Performance Scale (PPS)- Version 2  
  
  A widely used tool for quick assessment of functional status in terminally ill individuals. Useful throughout the spectrum of illness, and facilitates a common descriptive language between care settings.

• Australian Govt. Dept. of Veterans' Affairs Pain and Symptom Control Measurement Tool
• 
  • Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (ESAS)  
    
    A widely used symptom assessment tool, validated in studies and extensively used in research and day-to-day clinical care of the terminally ill in all settings. Further description at the linked site.
  • Edmonton Staging System (ESS)  
    
    "...developed to provide a clinical staging system for cancer pain. This system includes known prognostic factors for the response to treatment. The system is accurate in predicating the outcome of patients with cancer pain. It may also be useful for stratification for patients prior to randomization and clinical trials in order to secure balance of distribution in the different treatments."
•   Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Pain Assessment Card
  
  "A downloadable tent card for pain assessment"

• Center to Improve Care of the Dying: A Review of Quality of Life Assessment Tools
  
  "The aim of this briefing book is to review those instruments that measure outcomes of medical care at the end of life."
•   Missoula -VITAS Quality of Life Index (MVQOLI)
  
  "The Missoula-VITAS Quality of Life Index (MVQOLI) is specifically designed to evaluate the patient's experience of quality of life during advanced illness. Based on Dr. Ira Byock's model of growth and development at the end of life, the MVQOLI is used both as an assessment tool to inform care planning and as an outcome measure. The instrument produces a quality of life profile for each individual patient that graphically reveals the influence of 5 domains of experience on quality of life. "
• Quality-of-Life Assessment in Palliative Care: A Review by Susan C. McMillan, PhD, RN, FAAN
  
  "Nine instruments for assessing quality of life in patients with cancer are identified, and their effectiveness during palliative care is analyzed."
•   (near the bottom of the page) The Multidimensional Quality of Life Questionnaire for persons with HIV/AIDS (MQOL-HIV)
  
  "The Multidimensional Quality of Life Questionnaire for persons with HIV/AIDS (MQOL-HIV) is a brief, easily administered multi-domain measure of quality of life that addresses issues especially relevant for people with HIV and AIDS."
•   Patient Reported Outcomes and Quality of Life Instruments Database (PROQOLID)
  
  "Developed by Mapi Research Institute and managed by Mapi Research Trust (Lyon, France), PROQOLID aims to identify and describe PRO and QOL instruments to help you choose appropriate instruments and facilitate your access to them"

---

Home