The Potential Role of Symptom Questionnaires in Palliative and Supportive Cancer Care Delivery.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) palliative care recommendations have been updated into a full guideline. Symptom questionnaires-completed and reviewed with patients during care delivery-are poised to play a large role in this guideline because they provide a more comprehensive understanding of symptoms. This article provides an overview of the guideline and describes how symptom questionnaires can be used to satisfy the guideline.

RECENT FINDINGS: Standardized symptom questionnaires can be used for three purposes in care delivery: symptom management, referral to specialty palliative and supportive care, and to assess high-quality care. Challenges include necessary changes to clinic workflow to collect patient responses and respond to electronic alerts for worsening symptoms. Symptom questionnaires administered as part of routine care delivery are highly informative and worth the time to enhance symptom management in routine care, to increase referrals, and to standardize performance metrics.