Criteria for Choosing Palliative Care
Please consider the following criteria when determining the palliative care needs of your patient:
Primary Disease Processes
- Cancer (metastatic/recurrent)
- Advanced lung disease
- Advanced cardiac disease
- End-stage renal disease
- Ventilator dependent
- Stroke (with decreased function by at least 50%), life-limiting
- Catastrophic illness/injury
- Alzheimer’s/Dementia
- Other life-limiting disease
Concomitant Disease Process
- Liver disease
- Diabetes
- Moderate renal disease
- Moderate lung disease
- Moderate cardiac disease
- Other condition complicating care
Clinical Assessment
Uncontrolled physical symptoms (could include but not limited to):
- Pain
- Dyspnea
- Nausea (+/- vomiting)
- Cough
- Delirium
- Insomnia
- Anxiety
- Agitation
- Declining performance status
- Psychosocial issues
Other Criteria To Consider
- Team/patient/family needs help with complex decision-making and determination for goals of care
- Patient has unresolved level of pain or other symptoms of distress for more than 24 hours
- Patient has unmet psychosocial, cultural or spiritual issues
- Patient has frequent visits to the Emergency Department (more than once a month for the same diagnosis)
- Patient has more than one hospital admission for the same diagnosis within 30 days
- Patient has prolonged length of stay (more than five days) without evidence of progress
- Patient has prolonged stay in ICU and/or transferred from one ICU to another ICU setting without evidence of progress
- Patient is in ICU setting with documented poor prognosis