Increasingly, health consumers, clinicians and systems are considering the importance of patient centred treatment decisions. This is especially true when undertaking anticipatory care planning for deterioration. Clinicians have a responsibility to provide honest information that assist patients and families to understand treatment options. This should be done in light of their values, changing health/illness and real options for future care.
This process relies on clinician recognition of patients who may be at risk of clinical deterioration, and those that may be approaching end-of-life or transitioning to the terminal phase. Failure to identify these patients can reduce their quality of care through delays in timely comfort care and prolonged exposure to non-beneficial treatment.
Clinical Indicators can be used to identify when to initiate a Goals of Patient Care process. Clinical Indicators are screening tools designed to support hospital teams to recognise patients at risk of deteriorating and/or dying. Once such tool SPICT.
SPICT aims to reduce the impact of prognostic ambiguity and improve clinician confidence in identifying these patients earlier in the course of the hospital admission, or earlier in the course of illness.
Supportive and Palliative Indicators Tool (SPICTTM)
It is used to identify people with deteriorating health due to one or more advanced conditions. It guides holistic assessment and care planning.
SPICT for health professionals
SPICT for patients, family and professional carers
Additional resources
The SPICT™ tool is available as a free app on iOS for iPhone and iPad, and as an app for Android.
The latest version of the SPICTTM app includes information about the SPICTTM, advice on how to assess and plan care for people identified with it, and tips on effective communication:
Note: all users are responsible for ensuring that they use the current version of SPICT-App and for any use they make of SPICT™ and SPICT™ website resources.