Implementing quality palliative care.

Quality palliative care is of interest to everyone who is receiving or providing care. The quality of the care that is provided depends on everyone's understanding of the underlying model that is guiding patient/family care; the organization's mission and vision; and the consistency of the language, practice and treatment guidelines, outcome assessment and performance improvement strategies that everyone is using from day-to-day. Implementation of quality palliative care within an organization starts with careful strategic planning followed by the systematic development of guidelines, outcome measures, indicators, standards and a performance improvement process through an inclusive consensus-building process. By modifying existing widely-accepted models, organizations can expedite their implementation of quality palliative care. Through careful attention to evolving this process over time, everyone will be the benefactors of a high-quality palliative care experience.