End of Life Quality Measures

This paper explores end-of life quality measures and their relationship to medical versus non-medical hospice and palliative staff. More specifically, “There is a difference between hospice and palliative care medical versus non-medical staff views in relation to end-of-life quality measures.” This study included 121 hospice and palliative care medical and non-medical staff. The staff was from one hospice program in a metropolitan area. The participants were contacted through an anonymous, on line survey package called Qualtircs. The survey did not find any statistical significance to the research question but did find some interesting implications about views of end-of-life quality measures. One conclusion is that medical and non-medical hospice and palliative care staff seems to view the quality measures very similarly and value these measures with high regard. Further research is needed, however, to help solidify the value of quality measures and the involvement of the patient and family in end of life care. More research in end-of-life quality measures would also assist in proving that there is a greater need for these services and that an increase could actually help save health care dollars