The following broad referral criteria have been developed to help you assess whether a palliative care referral would be beneficial to you and your patient. One or more of the following may indicate the need for referral to the palliative care team:
- Metastatic or locally-advanced cancer progressing despite systemic treatments
- Metastatic disease with uncontrolled pain
- Declining ability to complete activities of daily living
- Failure of first – or second-line chemotherapy
- Multi-organ failure
- Multiple hospitalizations
- Difficult to control physical or emotional symptoms related to serious medical illness
- Patient, family or physician uncertainty regarding goals of care
- Patient or family requests for futile care
- Patient, family or any other physician request for information on palliative care
- Family caregiver request for guidance to manage patient’s care at home
- Patient or family psychological or spiritual distress
- Patient wanting to stop all treatment and needing continuing care at home
