Table 5.

Quality indicators in two provinces

Quality indicator	Statistic description	Nova Scotia (%)	Ontario (%)
1. Interval between last chemotherapy and death	(a) Any chemotherapy in the last 14 days (% of those receiving chemotherapy)	9.3%	15.7%
	(b) Average number of days between last chemotherapy and death (for those receiving chemotherapy)	71.1	60.3
	(c) Proportion receiving any chemo in the last six months	26.2%	41.0%
	(d) Proportion receiving any chemo in the last 14 days (% of whole cohort)	2.4%	6.4%
2. Site of death	Died in the hospital	63.4%	52.9%
3. Frequency of ER visits	(a) More than one ER visit in the last month	5.6%	6.9%
	(b) Average number of ER visits in the last month	0.41	0.44
	(c) Average number of ER visits per available day in the last month	0.02	0.02
4.1 Hospital days near the end of life (includes any inpatient days)	(a) More than one hospital admission in the last month	11.7%	15.6%
	(b) More than 14 days in the hospital in the last month	29.1%	23.9%
	(c) Average number of hospital days in the last month	9.9	9.8
	(d) Average number of hospital admissions in the last month	0.70	0.86
4.2 Hospital days near the end of life (includes ICU days only)	Percentage with at least one ICU admission in the last month	2.1%	4.1%
5. Continuity of care	(a) Modified Modified Continuity Index45
	(i) General Practitioners (GPs) only	0.79	0.73
	(ii) Non-GPs only	0.59	0.79
	(b) Average number of GP visits (excluding < 3 visits)	7.07	8.80
	(c) Average number of GPs (excluding <3 visits)	2.18	2.66
	(d) Average number of non-GP visits (excluding <3 visits)	10.28	57.29
	(e) Average number of non-GPs (excluding <3 visits)	4.37	10.67
6. Time and location of care	Percentage of home and office visits which occurred in the last two weeks	10.5%	22.7%
7. Adverse events	Bedsore, infection, fall, or injury	9.3%	12.6%
8. Enrollment in palliative care within three days prior to death	Enrolled in palliative care program within three days prior to death (for those enrolled in palliative care) (data only available for part of the province)	4.2%	NA
9. Access to palliative care	Enrolled in palliative care program (data only available for part of the province)	78.3%	NA
10. Radiotherapy for uncontrolled bone pain for bony metastases	Received palliative radiation to the bones	21.9%	NA
11. Potent antiemetic for emetogenic chemotherapy	Prescription for potent antiemetic in the last six months (those 65 years of age and older)	5.9%	10.5%
12. Multidisciplinary care	(i) Percentage of physician visits by GPs	60.7%	30.3%
	(ii) Percentage of physician visits by non-GPs	39.3%	69.7%
13. Access to care	Rurala residence	39.8%	15.1%
14. Interval between new chemotherapy and death	Had new chemotherapy in the last 30 days of life	2.6%	NA

^aThe definition of rural differs between Nova Scotia and Ontario.

NA, data not currently available to calculate the statistic.