Pain & Symptom Management

Cancer Care Ontario has developed tools to help healthcare providers monitor and manage their patients’ symptoms more effectively, regardless of where they are in their cancer journey. Symptom Management Guides help healthcare professionals assess and appropriately manage a patient's cancer-related symptoms during palliative care. Click here to view guides and algorithms for managing various cancer-related symptoms. 

Edmonton Symptom Assessment System

The Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (ESAS) is used in palliative care (as well as throughout the cancer journey) to track a patient's symptom severity scores over time and across healthcare settings. Click here to learn more about ESAS. 

Palliative Performance Scale 

The Palliative Performance Scale is a reliable and valid tool used for assessing a patient’s functional status.The PPS provides a framework for measuring progressive decline over the course of illness. It also provides a “best guess” projection of length of survival (i.e. suggests if patient is moving closer to death) and serves as a communication tool for the team. 
Click here to learn more about PPS.
Click here to view the scale.