Abstract

: BackgroundImplementation of survivorship care plans remain a challenge. This quality improvement initiative aims to integrate personalized treatment plans (PTP) and care plans (PCP) into the existing workflow for breast cancer (BC) patients. Methods: Phase 1 was to identify multidisciplinary team members to generate and deliver PTP and PCP. Concurrently, Phase 2 was to deliver PTP and PCP to newly diagnosed invasive BC patients at chemotherapy initiation and completion, respectively. Iterative plan, do, study, act (PDSA) cycles were applied to refine the process. The proportion of information completed for PTP and PCP generation and its delivery by the care team were measured. Patient and provider satisfaction were also assessed. Implementation Process and Results: The care transfer facilitator (CTF) was identified to complete and deliver PTP, and their data entry increased from 0% to 76%, 80%, 92% consecutively during the last 4 PDSA cycles. PTP and PCP were provided to 85% of eligible BC patients. Patients agreed that PTP helped them to actively participate in their care (88%) and communicate with the oncology care team (86%). Primary care physicians agreed that PTP and PCP had the information needed to “stay in the loop” (80%), and oncologists agreed they should be incorporated into oncology clinics (100%). Conclusions: Integrating PTP and PCP generation and delivery into existing workflow has led to an increase in uptake, sustainability and provider buy-in. With limited resources, it remains difficult to find care team members to complete the forms. A dedicated personnel or survivorship clinic is required to successfully implement PTP and PCP as the standard of care.

Highlights

  • The most recent Canadian Cancer Society statistics show that, on average, 74 Canadian women will be diagnosed with breast cancer (BC) every day [1]

  • All activities related to personalized treatment plans (PTP) and personalized care plan (PCP) preparation and delivery conducted by research staff

  • Explored care plan application (CP app) capability to generate existing oncology care documents used by care team members

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Summary

Introduction

The most recent Canadian Cancer Society statistics show that, on average, 74 Canadian women will be diagnosed with breast cancer (BC) every day [1]. Due to increasing improvements in screening and treatment, the long-term survival rates after a BC diagnosis are steadily rising. With this process, complexities of cancer care and patient needs have evolved, emphasizing the need for the development of comprehensive survivorship programs. Many cancer survivors, including BC patients, continue to report disease-related information needs and would prefer a print format [2]; and they are often dissatisfied with care following cancer treatment [3]. In 2006, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) issued a milestone report that included 10 recommendations regarding cancer survivorship. The issues receiving the most attention to date have been the provision of a summary of diagnosis, treatment received (treatment summary), future follow-up care plans, and healthy lifestyle recommendations [4]

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