Research

PCOC is committed to improving the quality and effectiveness of palliative care in Australia through data-driven research. The PCOC: Strategic Research Plan, developed with input from the PCOC Research Committee, outlines key priorities and research questions that can be addressed using PCOC data.

The strategic plan guides research focused on:

• • Validating outcome measures
  • Advancing palliative care outcome measurement
  • Driving quality improvement
  • Enhancing models of care and service delivery.

It also supports collaborative research initiatives and identifies opportunities for higher degree student projects. 

If you are interested in collaborating with PCOC or conducting your own research using PCOC data, please contact apcor-coord@uow.edu.au.

PCOC is continually conducting internal research to improve its data collection and educational materials. It also conducts internal research that aligns with the PCOC Strategic Research Plan to expand the evidence for best practice in palliative care. 

Current projects:

• Trends in pain and breathlessness in people receiving palliative care across disease types in Australia,
• Can SAS and ESAS scores be compared?
• Establishing minimally clinically important differences in key measures used in palliative care,
• Symptom Distress in the Final Week of Life: A Comparative Study of Community and Inpatient Palliative Care Setting,
• Clinical profile, palliative care utilisation, and duration of palliative care before death among patients referred by general practitioners: a multicentre retrospective cohort study.

Tentative projects:

Priority area 1 – Enhance PCOC Measures and Improve Palliative Care Outcomes

• The development of a predictive model to improve prognostication and symptom management in palliative care,
• The correlations between symptom burden disease trajectories and referal patterns in palliative care,
• Exploring RUG ADL and AKPS over the palliative care timeline.

Priority area 2 – Advance Equity, Speciality Care and Innovation in Palliative Care

• Identifying priority population in access, quality of care and outcomes of palliative care in Australia (ATIA, CALD, Rural, Dementia, etc),
• How the social determinanats of health impact palliative care in Australia, a linkage study,
• Improving access, quality of care and outcomes of priority populations receiving palliative care in Australia,
• The use of AI appliactions in palliative care - can it predict symptoms, create care plans and drive system improvements?
• The use of AI appliactions in palliative care - can it predict patient outcomes and assist inpersonalised care models?
• The use of digital self reporting of symptoms in palliative care.

A list of publications that used PCOC data can be accessed here.

PCOC actively seeks and secures research funding to expand the reach, quality, and impact of our work in palliative care. These projects enable us to generate new knowledge, improve clinical practice, and contribute to national and international efforts to enhance care at the end of life.

Our funded projects cover a range of themes, from improving patient outcomes to developing innovative screening tools and evaluating models of care. Each project represents a collaboration with partners across health services, government, and academia.

Details of our funded research projects are listed below, with links to individual project pages.

We welcome opportunities to collaborate on research grant applications. If you're interested in partnering with us on a future project, please contact us — we’d love to hear from you.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) plays a central role in analysing and reporting data on palliative care in Australia. This work is crucial for informing policy and guiding improvements in care delivery.

PCOC and the AIHW collaborate on several reports that include PCOC data, including:

• National palliative care measures
• Palliative care services in Australia
• Improving Australia’s dementia data for national action