Palliative Care Needs Assessment Tools — SCE Palliative Medicine MCQ

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ModerateCommunication & EthicsPalliative Care Needs Assessment ToolsSCE Palliative Medicine

A palliative care registrar reviews the palliative care literature and encounters the term ‘palliative care needs assessment.’ What validated tools are commonly used to assess unmet palliative care needs in the UK?

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Correct answer: B — The Sheffield Profile for Assessment and Referral to Care (SPARC) or the Supportive Care Needs Survey (SCNS)—both assess unmet needs across physical, psychological, social, and information domains

Explanation lettering: B = shown as A · C = shown as B · E = shown as C · A = shown as D · D = shown as E

Option C is correct. NICE guidance refers to the Sheffield Profile for Assessment and Referral to Care (SPARC) as an established holistic tool for identifying supportive and palliative care needs across multiple domains including physical, psychological, social and information needs ([nice.org.uk](https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng142/documents/workshop-notes?utm_source=openai)). The SCNS‑SF34 is a psychometrically validated survey assessing unmet needs in domains such as psychological, health system/information, physical/daily living, patient care/support and sexuality ([pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19522727/?utm_source=openai)). Karnofsky (A) measures performance status only; blood tests (B) do not assess psychosocial or information needs; PHQ‑9 (D) screens only for depression; and (E) is incorrect because multiple validated tools exist.

Reference: NICE NG142 workshop notes (2015), PubMed PMID 19522727 (SCNS‑SF34 validation, 2009), https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng142/documents/workshop-notes