Abstract 1273P
Background
Early palliative care improves symptoms and quality of life for patients (pts) with advanced cancer. At Veneto Institute of Oncology - IOV in Padua (Italy) a simultaneous care outpatient clinic (SCOC) has been active since 2014, in which pts with advanced-stage disease are evaluated by an oncologist with palliative care team. Pts have been referred to the SCOC through a referral form, scored to prioritize pts’ access, since 2018. We prospectively assessed SCOC pts’ characteristics and SCOC outcomes through the internal procedure indicators.
Methods
Pts referred to SCOC by IOV Oncology Unit 1 physicians were eligible. Data were retrieved from the SCOC prospectively maintained database.
Results
Eligible pts were 753. Median age was 68 years; 73.6% pts had gastrointestinal cancer, 13.7% had urological cancer and 12.7% had other types of cancer. Disease stage was metastatic in 90.9% of pts. Predominant symptoms were psychological disorders (69.4%), appetite loss (67.5%) and pain (65.9%). Full awareness of cancer diagnosis was detected in 95.3% of pts, of whom 58.5% had also a full awareness of prognosis. Median survival from SCOC visit was 7.3 months. The proportion of pts with survival <6 months increased during the years from 40.3% in 2018, to 65.9% in 2021 (p<0.0001). Survival estimates provided by the oncologist in the referral form was significantly different from the actual survival. Psychological intervention was deemed required and undertaken in 34.6% of pts and nutritional support in 37.9% of pts. Based on ESAS detected needs, activation of palliative care services was undertaken for 77.7% of pts. After SCOC visit, 22.6% pts had unplanned emergency room admissions. Out of 357 pts whose place of death is known, 69.2% died in a proper location (home, hospice and residential care). The indicator’s threshold was reached for 9 out of 11 parameters requested by procedure.
Conclusions
This study confirms the importance of close collaboration between oncologists and palliative care team to respond to all cancer pts’ needs. The introduction of a procedure with indicators allowed us to evaluate the performance of the team so as to improve it.
Clinical trial identification
Editorial acknowledgement
Legal entity responsible for the study
The authors.
Funding
Has not received any funding.
Disclosure
All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.