Table 3.

Description of the core set of PCOMs that we aim to implement into routine palliative care practice as part of the RESOLVE project

Measure	Description	Frequency/timing of collection
Palliative Phase of Illness17	Palliative Phase of Illness is a measure which describes the urgency of care needs for a person receiving palliative care. It does so by describing four distinct phases of a patient’s illness, including: stable, unstable, deteriorating, dying and deceased. These phases are measured through determining the care needs of a patient and/or their family and provide a clinical indication of a patient’s Phase of Illness which can be used to inform care planning.	In-patients (hospice) Daily Community Each contact
Integrated Palliative care Outcomes Scale (IPOS)18 19	A holistic, well-validated and global measure of symptom burden that uses 10 questions (scored on a 0–4 Likert-type scale) to assess the most important symptoms and concerns of patients affected by life-limiting illnesses across physical, psychological, social and existential domains of well-being. There are two forms of IPOS; patient-IPOS (where patients complete the questionnaire as a self-report) and staff-IPOS (a proxy version which is completed by staff).	In-patients (hospice) Initial assessment Change in Phase of Illness End of episode Community Each contact
Australia-modified Karnofsky Performance Status (AKPS)20	Assesses a patient’ overall performance/functional status across three dimensions: activity, work and self-care. Healthcare professionals use their observations of patients’ ability to perform everyday tasks and scores them at 10% increments between 0% (ie, the patient is dead) and 100% (ie, no complaints or evidence of disease).

PCOMs, person-centred outcome measures.