Assessment of the Palliative Performance Scale in a specialized palliative care unit

The assessment of vital prognosis in the palliative setting is essential to provide care adapted to the patient's needs. The objective of this research was to compare the survival of patients in our specialized palliative care unit with that estimated by the "Palliative Performance Scale" (PPSv2) described in the literature, in order to better define the therapeutic project. Our results are comparable to those of the selected studies up to the PPSV level of 30%. From 40% onwards, our values are lower, probably due to the admission criteria of our unit, which select complex and unstable patients. The use of a tool to estimate survival can provide a basis for reflection and dialogue with the patient and his relatives, based on easily observable criteria.