• Aintzane Gallastegui-Brana, Alfredo Rodríguez-Nunez, Josefa Palacios, Fernanda Soto-Soto, Joel Castellano, Sebastián Soto-Guerrero, and Pedro E Pérez-Cruz.
• Programa Medicina Paliativa y Cuidados Continuos, Facultad de Medicina (A.G.B., A.R.N., J.P., S.S.G., P.E.P.C.), Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile; Escuela de Enfermería (A.G.B.), P... more ontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Centro Colaborador OPS/OMS, Santiago, Chile. less
• J Pain Symptom Manage. 2023 Jun 1; 65 (6): 490499.e50490-499.e50.

ContextThe current gap in access to palliative care requires the expansion of palliative care services worldwide. There is little information about the structural components required by palliative care services to provide adequate end-of-life care. No specific tools have been developed to assess the structural quality of these services.ObjectiveTo develop and validate a tool to assess the structural quality of palliative care services.MethodsA scoping review of literature was performed to identify structural quality indicators of palliative care services. National experts participated in a two-round Delphi method to reach consensus regarding the importance and measurement feasibility of each proposed indicator. Consensus was reached for each indicator if 60% or more considered them both important and feasible. The selected indicators were tested among Chilean palliative care services to assess instrument psychometric characteristics.ResultsThirty-one indicators were identified. Thirty-five experts participated in a two-round Delphi survey. Twenty-one indicators reached consensus and were included in the structural quality of palliative care services tool (SQPCS-21). This instrument was applied to 201 out of 250 palliative care services in Chile. Achievement for each indicator varied between 8% and 96% (mean 52%). The total SQPCS-21 score varied between 3 and 21 points (mean 11 points).ConclusionThe SQPCS-21 tool to assess structural quality of palliative care services, has good content and construct validity and its application provides information about institutions at the individual and aggregated level. This tool can provide guidance to monitor the structural quality of palliative care worldwide.Copyright © 2023 American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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