Purpose: Palliative Care is essential to Oncology. The purpose of this abstract is to describe the AVAHO Palliative Care Research subcommittee, its objectives, and evidence of its productive multi-disciplinary and inter-institutional collaboration.
Background: The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) recommends Palliative Care for all patients with metastatic lung cancer and other symptomatic advanced malignancies. VA mandates Palliative Care inpatient consult teams for all medical facilities. It is not clearly known how Palliative Care is integrated into standard VA outpatient Oncology practice. In addition, questions remain regarding the optimal way(s) to provide Palliative Oncology Care. The AVAHO Palliative Care Research subcommittee was established in 2015 and currently has 7 members from 7 VA institutions. The mission of the subcommittee is to develop partnerships among VA clinicians, pharmacists, social workers, researchers, and VA leadership with the shared goal of providing optimal Palliative Oncology Care within the VA. In laying the groundwork for productive collaboration, we have identified a need to better understand the current interface between VA Oncology Clinics and Palliative Care teams. In particular, we seek to review the evidence for providing on-site Palliative Care to patients with advanced malignancies, and we seek to understand the current availability of outpatient Palliative Care within VA outpatient Oncology clinics.
Methods: We have identified 2 initial approaches to address these questions. First, we have submitted a proposal to the VA Evidence-Based Synthesis Program (ESP) to review the evidence regarding optimal Palliative Care delivery methods for patients with advanced malignancies and
the feasibility of providing on-site Palliative Care embedded into VA Oncology clinics. Second, we plan to survey current VA Oncology providers to understand their Palliative Care referral patterns, available on-site resources, and barriers to providing optimal Palliative Care for their patients.
Analysis/Results: At the AVAHO 2016 meeting, we will provide updated information on the ESP proposal and the Palliative Care in Oncology Survey.
Conclusion: The AVAHO Palliative Care Research subcommittee represents a multidisciplinary and inter-institutional collaboration with a common goal of optimizing VA Palliative Oncology Care. This subcommittee is a model of how AVAHO can foster productive collaborations. We welcome new members.