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Melbourne General Practice Network

Cancer Council: Palliative Care Needs Assessment

Palliative Care Needs Assessment Guidelines & Needs Assessment Tool

Two important national resources, developed with funding from the Australian Government Department of Health & Ageing, were released in 2009:

  • The Palliative Care Needs Assessment Guidelines (summary version) and the 
  • Needs Assessment Tool: Progressive Disease-Cancer (NAT: PD-C).
    Evaluation of these resources showed that systematic use of the Guidelines and NAT: PD-C had an impact on some patient outcomes; assisted busy clinicians to efficiently identify issues of concern, particularly in areas that are not routinely well addressed such as psychosocial issues; and did not create additional burden in terms of consultation length. The NAT: PD-C also has acceptable levels of reliability and validity; and was clinically feasible when tested in a clinical setting with people with advanced cancer.

    Additionally, we have created a Medical Director template for a generic version of the tool - the Needs Assessment: Progressive Disease (NAT: PD), which I have also attached. This tool is very similar to the NAT: PD-C, but can be used to assess the needs of people suffering from a range progressive diseases including heart failure, cancer and COPD.

    Medical Director templates: (Right click, Save Target As..)


Also see the online health professional training program, available free at: http://www.newcastle.edu.au/research-centre/cherp/professional-resources