AEGiS-13IAC: The development of standards of palliative care and an accompanying audit Instrument.

13th International AIDS Conference

Durban, South Africa - July 9-July 14, 2000

The development of standards of palliative care and an accompanying audit Instrument.

Int Conf AIDS 2000 Jul 9-14; 13:(abstract no. ThOrB710)

Marston J
J. Marston, Bloemfontein Hospice, PO Box 28391, Danhof, 9310, South Africa, Tel.: +27 51 447 7281, Fax: +27 51 447 7358, E-mail: richardm@intekom.co.za

ISSUES: Minimum standards of Palliative care for People Living with AIDS (PWAs) need to be defined and tested for the protection of both clients and carers.Whilst the Hospice Association of South Africa (HASA) has developed Hospice standards, there exists a need for evaluating palliative care within hospitals, communities and other care providing organisations.

DESCRIPTION: This paper will describe the development of minimum standards of palliative care from needs assessment instrument and collaborative workshops involving PWAs, their carers and other relevant roleplayers in a metropolitan, two urban, two peri-urban and two rural sites throughout South Africa. From these standards an Audit instrument, measuring quantative and qualitative data, was developed and successfully tested within hospices, hospitals and the communities in seven sites. this was done as part of a 3-in-i Research tender for the Department of Health.

CONCLUSIONS: By making use of both the standards and the Audit Instrument, organisations can be assisted to develop and/or evaluate to what extent they are providing Palliative care.

Keywords: AEGIS, Palliative Care, Hospices, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, Health Services Needs and Demand, Needs Assessment, Research Design, South Africa, Human, standards
000709
ThOrB710