Validation of quality indicators for the organization of palliative care: a modified RAND Delphi study in seven European countries (the Europall project)

BACKGROUND: Validated quality indicators can help health-care professionals to evaluate their medical practices in a comparative manner to deliver optimal clinical care. No international set of quality indicators to measure the organizational aspects of palliative care settings exists. AIM: To develop and validate a set of structure and process indicators for palliative care settings in Europe. DESIGN: A two-round modified RAND Delphi process was conducted to rate clarity and usefulness of a previously developed set of 110 quality indicators. SETTING/PARTICIPANTS: In total, 20 multi-professional palliative care teams of centers of excellence from seven European countries. RESULTS: In total, 56 quality indicators were rated as useful. These valid quality indicators concerned the following domains: the definition of a palliative care service (2 quality indicators), accessibility to palliative care (16 quality indicators), specific infrastructure to deliver palliative care (8 quality indicators), symptom assessment tools (1 quality indicator), specific personnel in palliative care services (9 quality indicators), documentation methodology of clinical data (14 quality indicators), evaluation of quality and safety procedures (1 quality indicator), reporting of clinical activities (1 quality indicator), and education in palliative care (4 quality indicator). CONCLUSION: The modified RAND Delphi process resulted in 56 international face-validated quality indicators to measure and compare organizational aspects of palliative care. These quality indicators, aimed to assess and improve the organization of palliative care, will be pilot tested in palliative care settings all over Europe and be used in the EU FP7 funded IMPACT project