Comprehensive assessment of patients in palliative care: A descriptive study utilizing the INTERMED

Documentation in palliative care is often restricted to medical and sociode mographic information, and the assessment of physical and psychological sym ptoms or the quality of life. In order to overcome the lack of comprehensiv e information, we have evaluated the utility of the INTERMED-a biopsychosoc ial assessment method to document integrated information of patients' needs -in 82 consecutive patients for whom a palliative care consultation was req uested. Results confirm the biopsychosocial heterogeneity of the sample, an d the importance of integrated information to clinical, scientific, educati onal, and health care policy agendas. The INTERMED could become a useful me thod to tailor interdisciplinary interventions based on comprehensive patie nt needs assessment. (C) U.S. Cancer Pain Relief Committee, 2000.