Single-Item Instruments to Measure Aspects of Whole Person Care for an Inpatient Palliative Care Chaplain's Clinical Note: An Examination of Tools

Abstract

As members of the palliative care team, chaplains’ clinical notes in the electronic health record reflect their encounters with patients. Along with their specialized spiritual assessment included within these notes, chaplains document whole-person aspects of the patient attending to such matters as quality of life. This article examines the psychometric properties of single-item instruments that could measure specific whole-person care components to be documented within a palliative care chaplain's clinical note. A literature search discovered three single-item tools, one related to patient-perceived quality of care and two addressing quality of life. While continued work is needed developing single-item measures, the quality of care question, “Heard and Understood,” and the quality of life question, “How satisfied are you currently with your physical and emotional well-being?,” show promise for current use. Additional investigations are needed to develop single-item measures contributing to comprehensive palliative patient care.