SUMMARY Despite a variety of measurement tools none can be recommended as gold st and ard for the assessment of dyspnoea .
A combination of unidimensional and multidimensional tools seems to be the best for clinical assessment .
PURPOSE OF REVIEW Refractory dyspnoea is a common and difficult to treat symptom in advanced disease .
Accurate assessment helps to guide treatment and prognosis .
RECENT FINDINGS The absence of commonly agreed assessment tools has been a significant barrier to improving care through inhibition of clinical research and limitation of clinicians ' ability to assess the effectiveness of their interventions .
Two recently published systematic review s on measurement tools for breathlessness identified a variety of tools but none could be recommended as gold st and ard .
For clinical purpose s , the combination of a unidimensional tool to assess dyspnoea severity and a multidimensional tool to evaluate the impact on a person 's quality of life seem most appropriate .
This review discusses the present evidence and puts forward a strategy for assessment and measurement of the symptom in clinical practice .
Validation and clinical application of the german version of the palliative care outcome scale.
The Palliative Care Outcome Scale ( POS ) is a multidimensional instrument covering physical , psychosocial , spiritual , organizational , and practical concerns . This study vali date d the German version of the POS and used the tool in different palliative care setting s in Germany and Austria . Patients and staff were asked to complete the POS three times and evaluate the question naire and the translation afterwards . One hundred eighteen patients ( 44 male , 74 female , mean age 63 years , all suffering from advanced cancer ) completed the POS one time , 55 patients two times , and 36 patients three times . Spearman 's rho was highly significant for pain , other symptoms , anxiety , and life worthwhile in the first two assessment s. The third assessment showed significant correlations for pain , other symptoms , anxiety , and family anxiety . Seventy-seven of 87 patients answered questions regarding the scale and the translation . All questions other than " Over the past 3 days , have you felt good about yourself ? " were underst and able for patients . Almost half of the staff was undecided whether the tool was reflecting the patients ' condition . In contrast , the majority of patients liked it . Thus , the German version of the POS is well accepted by patients and staff and appears to be valid , although there are some areas where the scale would benefit from expansion to more closely capture staff and patient concerns
SUMMARY Despite a variety of measurement tools none can be recommended as gold st and ard for the assessment of dyspnoea .
A combination of unidimensional and multidimensional tools seems to be the best for clinical assessment .
PURPOSE OF REVIEW Refractory dyspnoea is a common and difficult to treat symptom in advanced disease .
Accurate assessment helps to guide treatment and prognosis .
RECENT FINDINGS The absence of commonly agreed assessment tools has been a significant barrier to improving care through inhibition of clinical research and limitation of clinicians ' ability to assess the effectiveness of their interventions .
Two recently published systematic review s on measurement tools for breathlessness identified a variety of tools but none could be recommended as gold st and ard .
For clinical purpose s , the combination of a unidimensional tool to assess dyspnoea severity and a multidimensional tool to evaluate the impact on a person 's quality of life seem most appropriate .
This review discusses the present evidence and puts forward a strategy for assessment and measurement of the symptom in clinical practice .