Validation of the Survival Prognostic Index (PaP Score) in Palliative Care

Introduction: Knowing the survival prognosis is already a demand of the terminally ill cancer patient; therefore, clinicians who validate the prognosis must have the necessary knowledge on the different survival indexes and scales that are currently used in different Palliative Care Units. In order to know the prognosis for terminal cancer patients in our unit, we propose applying the Palliative Prognostic Score (PaP Score) index upon the patient's admission and validating its usefulness, in order to improve the health care system for the patient facing imminent death. Material and methods: Observational, retrospective, 22-month study on the life expectancy of 128 terminally ill cancer patients admitted at the Centro Estatal de Oncologia (CEO) palliative care clinic, where the Survival Prognostic score (PaP score) was applied in order to establish the 3 survival prognostic categories at 30 days. Results: There were a total of 128 patients: 79 were included in group A (61.71%), with an average survival of 135.01 days, 31 in group B (24.22%), with an average survival of 89 days, and 31 in group C (14.07%) with an average survival of 20.5 days. Discussion: The use of the PaP Score index is a useful tool for healthcare professionals, since it provides with a survival prognosis for terminally ill cancer patients, which helps to rapidly plan and implement healthcare interventions for patients in the less favored categories (B and C). These results allow for institutional measures to be implemented in order for patient referrals to Palliative Care to be carried out correctly.