On the 9th of June 2021, the Jordan Palliative Care team at King Hussein Cancer Center (KHCC, Jordan) and King’s College London’s Cicely Saunders Institute (CSI, UK) hosted a virtual training session to launch the implementation of the Integrated Palliative Outcome Scale (IPOS) for patients with advanced cancer in Jordan.
The IPOS is a brief patient-centred outcome measure that captures core concerns in palliative care, including physical, psychosocial and spiritual symptoms. The Arabic IPOS (Jordan) is an adapted IPOS that is tailored to the needs of the local population, including refugees, and builds on a qualitative study and cognitive interviews. It will be integrated into the palliative care routine practice at KHCC and later at Al-Bashir Governmental Hospital. Ultimately, this integration will help improve the quality person-centred palliative care for those with advanced cancer and their informal caregivers including refugees in Jordan.
The training aimed to introduce the IPOS to the palliative care team and finalise the implementation steps and strategies for a successful implementation of the IPOS in both settings. During the session hosted by Dr Omar Shamieh (KHCC), 25 inter-professional palliative care nurses, clinical pharmacists, psychosocial staff, home care and palliative care doctors were trained. Professor Richard Harding and Dr Mevhibe B. Hocaoglu (CSI) introduced outcome measurements and quality improvement and the IPOS measure. Waleed Rjoub and Ghadeer Alarja from the Center for Palliative & Cancer Care in Conflict – CPCCC at KHCC delivered the training on the Arabic IPOS (Jordan).
The palliative care team learnt about person-centred, and person-oriented care and patient-reported outcomes measures (PROM), critical aspects of a measure design, development and impact. An exciting and stimulating discussion followed on the next implementation steps.
The collaborative team leaders Richard Harding (KCL) and Omar Shamieh (KHCC) look forward to the implementation activities rolling out until the end of the month, when the IPOS will be launched in the palliative care across all settings including inpatient, outpatient and home care.
The Jordan PC team and the CSI’s team look forward to continuing their excellent collaboration, and foster the position of KHCC as a regional leader in outcomes-focused quality improvement in palliative care, and moving towards excellence in the region for palliative care.
These training and research are funded through the UK Research and Innovation GCRF Research for Health in Conflict (R4HC-MENA); developing capability, partnerships and research in the Middle and Near East (MENA) ES/P010962/1.
“We are really delighted to be partnering with King Hussein Cancer Centre, and for KHCC to be positioned as a regional leader in outcomes-focused quality improvement in palliative care”
Professor Richard Harding, Director of the Cicely Saunders Institute, King’s College London, UK
“We aim to position KHCC as a regional leader in outcomes-focused quality improvement in palliative care in addition to clinical care, education and research.”
Dr Omar Shamieh, Chairman of the Department of Palliative Care, King Hussein Cancer Centre, Jordan
Waleed Rjoob and Sabah Boufkhed
