Evaluación de la calidad de los servicios de cuidados paliativos domiciliarios: revisión de la literatura

Quality of health services is measured by indicators that make it possible to find improvement opportunities, relevant clinical and non-clinical data, epidemiological information, and perceived quality of the provided service. Palliative care can be offered in different forms; home-based care is a novel path that enables patients to be cared for far from hospital interventionism; the quality indicators that assess this form of care vary from those that assess intramural services. Objective: To describe quality indicators for health care used to assess home-based palliative care services, according to the literature consulted. Method: Systematic review of the available scientific literature on quality indicators for home-based palliative care. The CASPe list was used to assess methodological quality. Results: 47 indicators for quality assessment of home-based palliative care services were found; outcome indicators had the greatest presence. Among the indicators, different aspects of palliative care were measured, such as symptom management, home visits by specialized personnel, chosen place of death, events related to patient safety, and medication availability. Conclusions: Measurements for the place of death and presence of symptoms, even with a determined pharmacological treatment, were the two most frequently found indicators. A measurement of medical and nursing personnel higher than the rest of the professionals that make up the palliative multidisciplinary team was observed, some specific indicators were found for patients with oncological pathologies.