MA14.11 CareTrack: An Application-Based Method of Documentation for Improving Patient Communication in Cancer Care

Abstract

Patients being able to accurately understand and recall medical information correctly has been shown to improve outcomes, however, most studies suggest that patient information understanding in oncology tends to be poor with as much as 40-80% of information being relayed by healthcare professionals being forgotten (Kessels, 2003). Our study aimed to implement the use of ‘CareTrack’, an easy-to-use iPad application, as a simple yet complete app-based information package that provides an appointment summary sheet with no identifying information for patients to take home. An iPad pre-loaded with the CareTrack application was provided to oncologists and they filled in the form for their patients at the end of the initial consultation for lung cancer. A hard printout copy was provided to the patient to take home and the option of an email copy was sent as well. Approximately one-week later a patient satisfaction questionnaire was administered over the phone to patients who participated in the study. Six oncologists were recruited to the study with 35 patients consented to the study and 25 of these patients completing the follow-up surveys. Our primary objective was to assess feasibility of the CareTrack application. The average physician time to complete the CareTrack form for each patient was 1 minute and 29 seconds thus demonstrating that this is a quick and easy tool for physician use. Our secondary objective was to assess patient satisfaction with a brief survey. Ninety-six percent (24/25) of patients found the CareTrack information provided useful and 100% (25/25) of patients found the information easy to understand. Most patients did not require frequent review of the CareTrack form (28%, 7/25) nor needed the form to remember the information (56%, 14/25) or when discussing diagnosis/stage/treatment at home (44%, 11/25). Importantly, 96% (24/25) of patients were comfortable seeing their cancer information and treatment plan displayed on the CareTrack tool and 84% (21/25) of patients would like to receive additional CareTrack information in the future if their staging and/or treatment planned is changed/updated. To conclude, the CareTrack application was found to be easy to use and was able to effectively provide new lung cancer patients with a comprehensive yet easy-to-understand summary of their initial consult. In the future, we envision this project expanding province- and nation-wide as well as expanding to other disease sites (e.g. breast, colorectal etc.).