Dr Thilo Schuler, Ms Claire King, A/Prof Michael Back, Ms Tamara Doria, Ms Paula Macleod, A/Prof Pandora Patterson, Prof Thomas Eade
Background
Community services in cancer care are:
👍 important, but 😞 underutilised
Reasons include:
⏱️ Time constraints of clinical reality 📉 Quickly waning effect of traditional referrer info campaigns 🤷 Insufficient knowledge → no/unconvincing recommendation to patient
Aim & Methods
Systematic and sustainable referral to Quitline and Canteen using an Implementation Science approach:
Screening via routine electronic patient-reported outcomes (ePRO) survey for all new patients
Added two extra questions regarding smoking status and age of children
Co-designed information and referral approach
Key role: Patient Care Radiation Therapist (PCRT) providing practical and emotional support incl service referral offer
Evaluation: Pre/Post analysis of referral rates and clinical staff survey
Screening ePRO sent to 418 patients (74% coverage)
329 (87%) responded
Quitline referral 🚭
24 (6.6%) smokers
9 (38%) accepted referral
Over 100% increase vs whole NSLHD rates in 2018
Canteen referral 👦🏽👧🏻
85 (23%) of cancer patients had children aged 0-25yrs
18 (21%) accepted referral
Annualised 350% increase vs 2018
Clinical staff survey 👂
Response rate 34 of 77 (44%)
100% → overall patient benefit
97% → emotional and/or professional comfort for clinicians
Conclusion & Future
Successful routine care translation 💪 with benefits for patients 🤒 and clinicians⚕️
Systematic ePRO-based screening
Co-design strategy including PCRT training
Plans to apply this model more broadly (other services incl internal pathways)
Patients ↔ Services = ❤️
Optimising community service use with ePRO-based screening during routine Radiation Oncology care A Northern Sydney Cancer Centre and Canteen Collaboration Presented at Sydney Cancer Conference 2021 Dr Thilo Schuler, Ms Claire King, A/Prof Michael Back, Ms Tamara Doria, Ms Paula Macleod, A/Prof Pandora Patterson, Prof Thomas Eade
