J Palliat Care
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To ensure quality of care, palliative care programs need to document the effectiveness of their relief of physical and psychological distress. The Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale (ESAS) is a validated, reliable instrument developed to measure 9 different symptoms in palliative care patients. ⋯ Our study showed that the ESAS is a useful audit tool for assessing patterns of palliative symptom control that allows for institutional comparisons. Procedures that ensure completeness of data collection remain to be developed.
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Hospices provide palliative care to persons who are dying and supportive care to their family caregivers. As death approaches, these family caregivers become increasingly responsible for providing the majority of daily care. Although research has documented their distress, little work has evaluated the broader impact of caregiving on quality of life (QOL). ⋯ There were moderate correlations with overall mental health (r = 0.68) and low correlations with overall physical health (r = 0.01). Low correlations were observed with patient's performance status (r = 0.09). The CQOLC appears to possess adequate validity and internal consistency in this revalidation sample.