Development of a patient assessment to meet the needs of patients suffering from advanced non-oncological diseases – the KOPAL study

Background
To develop an aide memoire for patients diagnosed with advanced non-oncological chronic diseases, the KOPAL conversation guide, to foster interprofessional counselling between GPs and specialist palliative home care teams.

Methods
As part of the multi-centre, two-arm, cluster randomised controlled KOPAL study, the draft of the conversation guide was discussed and consented in three focus groups with 4 patients, 7 health care providers, and 5 stakeholders.

Results
The final version of the KOPAL conversation guide contains eight key topics: living with the illness, physical situation, emotional situation, personal situation, social situation, information and communication, control and autonomy, emergency management. Each topic refers to different general points, which are listed on top of the respective thematic section. The conversation should start by addressing the patient’s today’s well-being and end by asking for the patient’s main topic based on the discussed issues.

Conclusions
The KOPAL conversation guide is a broad evaluation and communication tool that covers potential palliative care (PC) needs of non-oncological patients and provides a basis for interprofessional case planning and counselling. Applying the KOPAL conversation guide may help to bridge the communicative gap between general and specialist PC professionals and between professionals and patients.