Common Symptoms and Problems Assessment Tools

Have you ever tried assessing the severity of the symptoms of your patient? Don’t worry, we have you covered.


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Recap 📝

1. Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale-revised (ESAS-r)
- A 10-item questionnaire measuring the intensity of the symptoms, using numbers.
- It should ideally be rated by the patients themselves but if the patient is unable to do so, it can be administered by caregivers or healthcare workers.
- The 10 symptoms are pain, tiredness, drowsiness, nausea, lack of appetite, shortness of breath, depression, anxiety, well-being and any other possible problems such as constipation.
- These questions are asked on a scale of 0 to 10 where 0 is no symptom and 10 is the worst possible symptom.

2. Palliative Care Problem Severity Scale (PCPSS)
- A global assessment that summarizes the patient’s palliative care needs and care plans.
- The 4 domains are pain, other symptoms, psychological or spiritual problems and family or carer issues. This is usually administered by healthcare workers.
The severity of the problems is rated and responded using a categorical scale from 0 to 3. 0 is absent, 1 is mild, 2 is moderate and 3 is severe.

These 2 scales are meant to complement each other. ESAS-r aims to measure the severity of symptoms and response to treatment while PCPSS helps in the initial screening and coordination of care based on patient’s needs.

Symptoms and problems assessment tools help to measure the severity of symptoms. These tools are often used in conjunction with functional assessment tools (as we have learned from the previous video - link below👇 ) to manage patients' symptoms, needs and coordinate care.

Related video:
3 common functional assessment tools -    • 3 Common Functional Assessment Tools  

Transcript: https://bit.ly/3q4vRjB

References
1. Watanabe SM, Nekolaichuk C, Beaumont C, et al. A multi-centre comparison of two numerical versions of the edmonton symptom assessment system in palliative care patients. J Pain Symptom Manage 2011;41:456-468.
2. Masso M, Allingham SF, Johnson CE, et al. Palliative care problem severity score: reliability and acceptability in a national study. Palliat Med 2016;30:479-485.

Content experts: Dr. Ho Peiyan and Henry Kong
Video producer: Perry Lee
Script composer: Lim Yujun
Voiceover: Henry Kong
This video is done in collaboration with GERI Institute - https://www.geri.com.sg/

All rights are reserved to GeriCare and there should not be any reproduction, publication, or adaptation of any part of the video content without prior approval from GeriCare.
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