Study protocol: evaluation of specialized outpatient palliative care in the German state of Hesse (ELSAH study) - work package I: assessing the quality of care

• Published in: BMC palliative care 2018-10, Vol.17 (1), p.111-111, Article 111
• Main Authors: Kuss, Katrin, Seipp, Hannah, Becker, Dorothée, Bösner, Stefan, Erler, Antje, Gruber, Dania, Hach, Michaela, Ulrich, Lisa R, Haasenritter, Jörg
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Ambulatory Care - methods; Ambulatory Care - organization & administration; Ambulatory Care - standards; Analysis; Attitude of Health Personnel; Care and treatment; Caregivers; Critical Illness - psychology; Critical Illness - therapy; Delivery of Health Care - methods; Delivery of Health Care - organization & administration; Evaluation; Evaluation Studies as Topic; Female; Germany; Health care policy; Hospice care; Humans; Implementation; Male; Mixed methods research; Outcome assessment [MeSH]; Outpatients; Palliative care; Palliative Care - methods; Palliative Care - psychology; Palliative Care - standards; Palliative care [MeSH]; Patient-centered care; Patients; Psychometrics - methods; Psychometrics - standards; Quality; Quality circles; Quality of care; Quality of Health Care - organization & administration; Quality of Health Care - standards; Quality of health care [MeSH]; Quantitative psychology; Reproducibility of Results; Study Protocol; Systematic review; Validation
• ISSN: 1472-684X; 1472-684X
• DOI: 10.1186/s12904-018-0363-8

In Germany, patients suffering from life-limiting conditions are eligible for specialized outpatient palliative care (SOPC). Evaluation of the quality of this service lacks currently integration of patient-relevant outcomes. There is also no scientific consensus how to prove quality of care in the special context of SOPC adequately. Existing quality reports are primarily based on descriptive structural data which do not allow for estimation of process quality or result quality. The ELSAH study ('Evaluation of Specialized Outpatient Palliative Care in the German state of Hesse') aims to choose - or, if necessary, to adopt - to evaluate and to implement a suit of measures to assess, evaluate and monitor the quality of specialized, home-based palliative care. All 22 SOPC teams providing their services in the state of Hesse, Germany, participate in the ELSAH study. The study is divided in two phases: a preparation phase and a main study phase. Based on the findings of the preparation phase we have chosen a preliminary set of instruments including the Integrated Palliative Outcome Scale, Views on Care, Zarit Burden Interview, Phase of Illness, Goal Attainment Scaling, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Status, Consumer Quality Indices Palliative Care and Sense of Security in Care. During the main study phase, we will use a mixed-methods approach to evaluate the instruments' psychometric properties (reliability, validity, feasibility and practicability), to identify barriers, facilitators and limitations of their routine use and to explore how their use affects the care within the SOPC setting. At the end of this study, an outcome- and patient-centered, validated measurement approach should be provided, adapted for standardized evaluations in SOPC across patient groups, palliative care services and regions nationwide. The standardized application of instruments should allow for making valid statements and comparisons of health care quality in SOPC based on process- and outcome-evaluation rather than relying on structural data only. Moreover, the instruments might directly influence the care of patients in palliative situations. German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS-ID: DRKS00012421 ).