The Guidelines for the Use of the APCA African  Palliative Outcome Scale (POS) has been  developed by the APCA, in collaboration with 
stakeholders, to help appropriately trained  health practitioners and researchers across  the region to utilise the APCA African POS in  their work place (Powell et... al, 2007; Warria  et al, 2007). Not only do the guidelines  provide a clear rationale for measuring  palliative care outcomes, but they also outline  practical information on how to use the tool  to collect data and analyse its results.  So why is there a need for these guidelines? 
Palliative care as a concept and discipline  is not well understood across Africa, and  its development is still embryonic in many  countries. While there are many obstacles  that hinder palliative care development on  the continent, a key challenge is the lack of  accurate information about the palliative  care being provided and its outcomes. The  APCA African POS is a useful tool to help us  measure these outcomes and, given that 
measuring palliative care outcomes remains  a relatively new concept, it is important  to guide people on how to use the tool. Of course, these guidelines are not intended  to address everything related to the  measurement of palliative care outcomes;  they contain only essential information for  providers. More detailed information on the  use of outcome tools, and in particular within  the research setting, can be gained from  contacting relevantly trained professionals.
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