Abstract
Objective: To map the instruments to identify the need for palliative care in Brazilian and international literature. Methods: An integrative review, conducted between November and December 2020, in the databases Medical Literature and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE), Embase Indexing and Emtree (Embase), Literatura Latino-Americana e do Caribe em Ciências da Saúde (LILACS), and Banco de Dados em Enfermagem (BDENF). 17 articles composed the corpus of analysis. The data were organized in a spreadsheet of the Google Spreadsheets Program and presented in narrative form. Results: 15 instruments have been mapped. Three were developed for use with cancer patients, three for patients with respiratory diseases, one for mothers with fetal loss, and one for neonatology teams. The other instruments include general conditions. Some present clinical indicators for specific evaluation, according to the type of disease. Only the Necpal tool has validation for use in Brazil. The Supportive and Palliative Care Indicators Tool and the Palliative Care Screening Tool have versions translated into Brazilian Portuguese. Final Considerations: We suggest the validation, for the Brazilian scenario, of instruments already developed in other countries, and the use of those already validated, in order to offer palliative care early to those who need it.