Designing an information interface to support sharing of information in cancer care

Abstract

This paper describes the design, implementation and testing of a functional prototype interface which enables primary healthcare teams to access the information system supporting clinical oncology specialists in South Wales, UK. A lack of information sharing has been recognized for some time as a barrier to improving the primary care of cancer patients. This extension to the existing ISCO information system will allow sharing of information about patient management at all levels of cancer patient support (general practitioners, hospital-based clinicians and palliative care teams). The application was designed to allow general practitioners to gain access to the existing system. This will give all healthcare professionals interested in a cancer patient's care the advantage of accessing detailed multiple providers' electronic casenotes in almost real time, thus improving communication of information within a care team. However, no attempt was made to include the much bigger issue of patients and their families or carers in the scope of the project at this stage, as this is an area requiring separate investigation. The pilot also enables general practitioners to determine the information they require and the information they need to be able to communicate with the cancer specialists.