Proportion of Unstable Palliative Care Phases That Lasted 3 Days or Less

Identifying Attributes

Care Settings
Palliative Care
Country
Australia
Publishing Organisation
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare National Palliative Care Measures
Type of Quality Indicator
Outcome
IOM Quality Dimension
Timeliness
Domain
Care of the Patient at the End of Life

Defining Attributes

Definition

This measure aims to assess the timely resolution of a patient's urgent needs, by ensuring all unstable phases are resolved within 3 days. An unstable phase is a clinically meaningful period in a patient's condition where an urgent change in the plan of care or emergency treatment is required because: the patient experiences a new problem that was not anticipated in the existing plan of care, and/or the patient experiences a rapid increase in severity of a current problem, and/or the family/carers circumstances change suddenly impacting on patient care. Note, due to data availability only inpatient settings are captured. The desired outcome is that more unstable palliative care phases last 3 days or less, meaning the measure will increase. The computation is: (Numerator ÷ Denominator) x 100.

Limitations: there may be some circumstances in which it is not possible to stabilise a person in an unstable palliative care phase within 3 days due to patient and/or family choice. It is expected that this measure will be lower in community settings when compared to inpatient settings as urgent changes in care plans can typically be managed more quickly in such settings given the greater availability of staff and other resources. For example, it is not reasonable to expect that in-home palliative care would have the same suite of treatments and diagnostic resources readily accessible as inpatient palliative care.

Numerator

Number of inpatient unstable palliative care phases lasting for 3 days or less within the reference year.

Denominator

Number of inpatient unstable palliative care phases within the reference year.

Exclusions
Use of Risk Adjustment
No
Risk Adjustments
Stratifications

Yes. Disaggregation by: Age, Sex, Indigenous status, State/territory, Socioeconomic area, and Remoteness Area.

Data Attributes

Type of Data Collection
Administrative data
Data Collection Methods

Admitted Subacute and Non-Acute Hospital Care National Best Endeavours Data Set (ASNAHC NBEDS). The Admitted subacute and non-acute hospital care national best endeavours data set (ASNAHC NBEDS) aims to ensure national consistency in relation to defining and collecting information about care provided to subacute and non-acute admitted public and private patients in activity based funded public hospitals. Subacute care in this NBEDS is identified as admitted episodes in rehabilitation care, palliative care, geriatric evaluation and management care and psychogeriatric care. Non-acute care in this NBEDS is identified as admitted episodes of maintenance care.

Data are collected and nationally collated quarterly or annually (financial year) ending 30 June each year, but hospitals forward data to the relevant state or territory health authority on a regular basis (e.g. monthly). The scope of the NBEDS is: same-day and overnight admitted subacute and non-acute care episodes; admitted public patients provided on a contracted basis by private hospitals; admitted patients in rehabilitation care, palliative care, geriatric evaluation and management, psychogeriatric care and maintenance care treated in the hospital-in-the-home. Excluded from the scope are: hospitals operated by the Australian Defence Force, correctional authorities and Australia's external territories.

Frequency of Data Collection
Annually
Frequency of Data Collection in Days
365
Reporting Methods

Public reporting.

Reporting Frequency
Reporting Frequency in Days
Indicator Has Recommended Targets
No

Source and Reference Attributes

Evidence Source

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). Development of the National Palliative Care Measures. Canberra (AU): AIHW; 2024. Available from: www.aihw.gov.au/getmedia/0ecbb5b1-4f83-4706-85ef-b0852318b7df/aihw-hse254-development-of-the-national-palliative-care-measures.pdf. Accessed 04 September 2024.

Quality Indicator Confirmed to be Part of a Program Used to Monitor Quality and Safety of Care Among Older People at a Population-Level between 2012-2022
Yes
Assessed by the Australian Consortium for Aged Care Collaborators as Generally Containing Good Properties (Importance and Scientific Acceptability)
Yes
Australian Consortium for Aged Care Endorsed
No
Identified by PHARMA-Care Project
No
Upload Date
12 March 2025