scholarly journals Causes of Cancer Re-Admissions: A Patient-Centered Approach

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (8) ◽  
pp. e734-e740
Author(s):  
Allison Zibelli ◽  
Katie Holland ◽  
Emily Wei
Keyword(s):  
Discharge Planning ◽  
Outpatient Setting ◽  
Care Quality ◽  
Care Team ◽  
Teaching Hospitals ◽  
Semistructured Interview ◽  
Limited Information ◽  
Patient Centered ◽  
Patients With Cancer ◽  
At Home

PURPOSE: Patients with a cancer diagnosis have a high risk of re-admission during the 30 days after discharge. Clinicians, payers, and patients consider this to be an indicator of care quality. The causes of re-admission remain poorly understood. Retrospective chart reviews, used in most re-admission research, provide limited information regarding the causes of, and methods to reduce, re-admissions. This project sought to elicit the insights of those most affected by re-admission: the patients themselves. METHODS: We interviewed patients with cancer who were re-admitted to 2 urban teaching hospitals when they were hospitalized during their second admission. Trained interviewers used a semistructured interview guide to gather information on events just before the second admission, the patients’ understanding of the cause of re-admission, and the patients’ views about their readiness for discharge at the previous admission. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed, and themes were identified and explored. RESULTS: Three major themes were identified. First, most patients saw their re-admission as caused by problems that could not be treated in an outpatient setting. Second, the patients felt that they did not have sufficient resources at home to manage their care. Furthermore, the patients did not see the outpatient care team as a resource that they could call on for assistance. As a result, most of the decisions to return to the hospital were made by the patients themselves. CONCLUSION: The decision that leads to re-admission often happens at home, in response to unmanageable needs. Strengthening the bond between the care team and the patient, with the aim of providing care in the most appropriate setting, could decrease re-admissions in patients with cancer. Possible interventions include home visits, enhanced discharge planning, and telehealth services.

scholarly journals Introducing Videoconferencing on Tablet Computers in Nurse–Patient Communication: Technical and Training Challenges

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Lisbeth O. Rygg ◽  
Hildfrid V. Brataas ◽  
Bente Nordtug
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Study ◽  
Network Connectivity ◽  
Internet Access ◽  
Care Quality ◽  
Tablet Computers ◽  
Network Access ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Patients With Cancer ◽  
And Training ◽  
At Home

Background. This article examines personnel and patient experiences of videoconferencing (VC) trials on tablet computers between oncology certified nurses (OCNs) and patients with cancer who live at home. The study points to organizational pitfalls during the introduction process. In many different arenas, the use of VC has increased recently owing to improved Internet access and capacity. This creates new opportunities for contact between patients living at home and their nurses. Video conferencing presupposes knowledge about Internet access, training, and usability of technological equipment. The aim of this pilot study was to illuminate patients’ and nurses’ experiences of the technical functionality, usability, and training of tablet use in VC in primary cancer care. The results point to the drawbacks concerning the introduction of VC. Method. A pilot study with an explorative design was used to describe patients’ and OCNs’ experiences of technical functionality and usability of VC on tablet computers. After a three-month trial, data were gathered, focusing on both patients’ and nurses’ perspectives. Individual interviews with four female OCNs, aged 32–65 (mean 46), and six patients with cancer, two men and four women aged 49–78 (mean 69), were content-analyzed. Results. The analysis revealed two main categories: network connectivity and tablet usability and training and educational pitfalls. Conclusion. When planning VC implementation, the organizational leadership should consider network access and stability, as well as individualized VC training on tablets. Ensuring patient safety should also be a priority. Further research should provide knowledge of technological and educational pitfalls, and possible implications of VC on the care quality of nursing.

scholarly journals Palliative Care Skills and New Resources for Oncology Practices: Meeting the Palliative Care Needs of Patients With Cancer and Their Families

2020 ◽  
pp. 14-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony Back ◽  
Tara Friedman ◽  
Janet Abrahm
Keyword(s):  
Palliative Care ◽  
Communication Skills ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Symptom Control ◽  
Care Quality ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Patients With Cancer ◽  
Patient Reported ◽  
The Impact ◽  
At Home

In its 2017 guideline, ASCO challenged members to integrate palliative care into their standard oncology practices for all patients, throughout their cancer trajectory. However, partnering with palliative care experts alone will not be enough to achieve that goal; there are too few experts now, and there will not be enough in the future to meet the needs of patients with cancer and their families. Other strategies are required. Oncologists can develop new communication skills that were not included in their fellowship curricula, skills that integrate into their visits the subjects that palliative care clinicians discuss routinely with patients referred to them. In this review, Dr. Back offers three questions matched to communication skills that can help oncologists explore key areas: (1) What is happening? (2) How do you (and I) feel? and (3) What is important? and discusses the “REMAP” strategy for making urgent medical decisions. Dr. Friedman reviews the impact of community-based palliative care resources and telehealth on care quality, patient centeredness, and reducing costs. Community-based palliative care services and telehealth are available to patients and families at home, during active treatment. Dr. Abrahm reviews how patient-reported outcomes (PROs) completed at home can enhance patients’ symptom control, quality of life, and toleration of treatment and decrease unplanned emergency visits by alerting clinicians to patients’ severe symptoms, making appropriate referrals, or suggesting patients contact their oncology team. She also provides an update on using PROs and natural language processing with clinical decision support to create sophisticated palliative care assessments and treatment options in the electronic health record during patients’ office visits.

scholarly journals The experience of the "Program of palliative care in an outpatient setting in the Dnipro City for 2018-2021" implementation: the problems and prospects

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 61-67
Author(s):  
A.V. Tsarenko ◽  
A.A. Babskiy ◽  
Yu.V. Krynychniy ◽  
Yu.Yu. Shchetko
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Palliative Care ◽  
Outpatient Setting ◽  
Palliative Care Team ◽  
City Council ◽  
Care Team ◽  
Specialized Palliative Care ◽  
The Government ◽  
The City ◽  
At Home

Background. Many Ukrainian authors noted that an innovative System of Palliative and Hospice Care (PHC) and Social Services for Palliative Care (SSPC) the creation and implementation are the most important medical and social tasks of the Government and society in Ukraine today which appreciate the civilization and humanity of our state and society. PHC are a modern patient-family-oriented humanitarian approach that contributes to the preservation of the human dignity of palliative care patients (PCP) and can ensure the proper quality of life of PCP and their relatives. According to the WHO and the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers Recommendations, palliative care should be one of the priorities of the Health Care Government Policy in the European region. The purpose of the study: the "Program of palliative care in an outpatient setting in Dnipro City for 2018-2021" the implementation analysis. Materials and methods. The work used national and international legal documents and literature sources, data from medical statistics, methods of systemic and structural-functional analysis, bibliosemantic and statistical research methods. Results. The international and national legal documents and scientific literature a content analysis showed that in accordance with modern approaches and standards, PHC is provided taking into account the PCP and its family members needs, wishes and consent, depending on medical, demographic, socio-economic and cultural ethnic features of the region. A comparative analysis of the PHC state in Ukraine and Dnipro City showed some regional features, in particular, the significant need to provide PHC and SSPC to patients at home and the need and ensure a mechanism of cooperation between primary health care physicians, inpatient health care and social care institutions to develop. In 2017, the “Program of outpatient palliative care in Dnipro City for 2018–2021” (hereinafter - the Program) was developed and approved at the City Council session, which allowed the PHC and SSPC multidisciplinary and interagency approaches implementation, effective interdepartmental coordination, cooperation and the continuity of PHC and SSPC to ensure. The Multidisciplinary Mobil Specialized Palliative Care Team has been working in close contact with family doctors and social workers in the city since June 2019. As part of the Program, PCP are provided with medicines, technical and other means of care and rehabilitation free of charge or on preferential terms. In addition, the Palliative Care Team provides PCP, if indicated, oxygen concentrators and anti-decubitus mattresses. The Program creates points for renting medical care for PCP (wheelchairs, walkers, anti-decubitus mattresses, crutches, etc.), as well as providing patients with medical care at home (urine and feces, diapers, etc.). In 2020, UAH 300,000 was allocated from the Program budget for the Palliative Care Team with medical equipment, medicines and rehabilitation technical means complete set. In total, it is planned to allocate over UAH 40 million from the Dnipro City Budget for the Program implementation. Conclusions. 1. Thus, today in Dnipro City the Comprehensive Palliative Care System at home is implemented due to co-financing from the State Budget and due to the "Program of palliative care in outpatient conditions in Dnipro City for 2018-2021", approved by the Dnipro City Council the deputies. 2. An important condition for comprehensive provision of the Dnipro City population needs in PHC and SSPC is the Dnipro City Council support to create a modern accessible, high-quality and efficient PHC and SSPC service, which an effective interagency coordination, continuity and cooperation between health care providers and social care institutions provides, Multidisciplinary Mobil Specialized Palliative Care Team creation and development of in each the city district, the coordination and continuity of inpatient PHC in the city health provides. 3. There is both the Government support and municipal or regional budgets support for PHC Programs in many developed countries. The international PHC standards and experience implementation can significantly the provision of needs and the quality of life of both PCP and their families improve.

Patient-Centered, Integrated Health Care Quality Measures Could Improve Health Literacy, Language Access, and Cultural Competence

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ignatius Bau ◽  
Robert A. Logan ◽  
Christopher Dezii ◽  
Bernard Rosof ◽  
Alicia Fernandez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Quality Improvement ◽  
Health Literacy ◽  
Cultural Competence ◽  
Health Care Quality ◽  
Care Quality ◽  
National Committee ◽  
Patient Centered ◽  
Organizational System ◽  
Language Access

The authors of this paper recommend the integration of health care quality improvement measures for health literacy, language access, and cultural competence. The paper also notes the importance of patient-centered and equity-based institutional performance assessments or monitoring systems. The authors support the continued use of specific measures such as assessing organizational system responses to health literacy or the actual availability of needed language access services such as qualified interpreters as part of overall efforts to maintain quality and accountability. Moreover, this paper is informed by previous recommendations from a commissioned paper provided by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) to the Roundtable on Health Literacy of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. In the commissioned paper, NCQA explained that health literacy, language access, and cultural competence measures are siloed and need to generate results that enhance patient care improvements. The authors suggest that the integration of health literacy, language access, and cultural competence measures will provide for institutional assessment across multiple dimensions of patient vulnerabilities. With such integration, health care organizations and providers will be able to cultivate the tools needed to identify opportunities for quality improvement as well as adapt care to meet diverse patients’ complex needs. Similarly, this paper reinforces the importance of providing more “measures that matter” within clinical settings.

Giving Care, Delivering Value

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joia S. Mukherjee
Keyword(s):  
Value Chain ◽  
Barriers To Care ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
Care Quality ◽  
Patient Knowledge ◽  
Geographical Distance ◽  
Patient Centered ◽  
Utilization Of Services ◽  
The Continuum

People value health. Yet impoverished patients face many barriers in seeking and receiving care. This chapter challenges the hypothesis that low service utilization of services is due to lack of patient knowledge. Rather, the chapter posits that low utilization is due to barriers to care (Quality of care, another factor in low utilization, will be addressed in Chapter 10). The chapter highlights offers the approaches caregiving and accompaniment to help providers and managers understand the geographical distance, harrowing transportation, and financial challenges that patients face. This understanding should support the design of more empathic and patient-centered programs that reduce barriers to care. To that end, this chapter introduces a tool called the care delivery value chain which is a helpful framework to design a system that optimizes access and services across the continuum of care.

scholarly journals Doctor–Patient Communication in Primary Health Care: A Mixed-Method Study in Fiji

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (14) ◽  
pp. 7548
Author(s):  
Swastika Chandra ◽  
Masoud Mohammadnezhad
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Method ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Quality Care ◽  
Outpatient Setting ◽  
Patient Communication ◽  
Mixed Method Study ◽  
Limited Information ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Communication Behaviour ◽  
Doctor Patient Communication

From a clinical perspective, effective and efficient communication is part of a strategy to ensure doctors are providing high-quality care to their patients. Despite the positive impact of effective doctor–patient communication on health outcomes, limited information is available on this in Fiji. This study was carried out to determine the current patients’ perception of doctors’ communication behaviour and identify factors affecting the doctor–patient communication in Fiji. This mixed-method study was conducted in the outpatient setting of three randomly selected health centres in the Suva Subdivision, Fiji. For the quantitative phase, systematic random sampling was used to select the 375 participants who completed the structured questionnaire; of those, 20 participants were selected for the qualitative interview. From the patients’ perception, 45.6% of them perceived doctors’ communication behaviour as good, 53.6% as fair, and 0.8% as poor communication behaviour. Qualitative findings highlight factors such as the attitude of the doctors, their approach, their interaction with the patients, and them providing an explanation as important factors during doctor–patient communication. In Fiji, the majority of patients perceived doctors’ communication behaviour as fair to good and the doctors’ skills were important for effective doctor–patient communication. This study highlighted the importance of doctor–patient communication and suggested that doctors might not be practicing patient-centred care and communication; thus, they need to upgrade their patient-centred communication skills.

scholarly journals Characteristics of infective endocarditis in a cancer population

Open Heart ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. e001664
Author(s):  
Cullen Grable ◽  
Syed Yusuf ◽  
Juhee Song ◽  
George M Viola ◽  
Owais Ulhaq ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Infective Endocarditis ◽  
Tertiary Care ◽  
Retrospective Chart Review ◽  
Mortality Data ◽  
Limited Information ◽  
Tertiary Care Centre ◽  
Indwelling Catheters ◽  
Patients With Cancer ◽  
Duke Criteria ◽  
Immunocompromised State

BackgroundInfective endocarditis (IE) is more common in patients with cancer as compared with the general population. Due to an immunocompromised state, the need for invasive procedures, hypercoagulability and the presence of indwelling catheters, patients with cancer are particularly predisposed to the development of IE.ObjectivesLimited information exists about IE in patients with cancer. We aimed to evaluate the characteristics of patients with cancer and IE at our tertiary care centre, including a comparison of the microorganisms implicated and their association with mortality.MethodsA retrospective chart review of patients with cancer who had echocardiography for suspicion of endocarditis was conducted. A total of 56 patients with a confirmed diagnosis of cancer and endocarditis, based on the modified Duke criteria, were included in the study. Baseline demographics, risk factors for developing IE, echocardiography findings, microbiology and mortality data were analysed.ResultsFollowing the findings of vegetations by echocardiography, the median survival time was 8.5 months. Staphylococcus aureus was the most common organism identified as causing endocarditis. The mitral and aortic valves were the most commonly involved sites of endocarditis. Patients with S. aureus endocarditis (SAE) had a significantly poorer survival when compared with patients without SAE (p=0.0217) over the 12-month period from diagnosis of endocarditis.ConclusionsOverall survival of patients with cancer and endocarditis is poor, with a worse outcome in patients with SAE.

Feasibility and convenience of immunotherapy at home for patients with cancer : a single-centre audit

Lung Cancer ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 156 ◽  
pp. S41
Author(s):  
Harliana Mohd Yusof ◽  
Giuseppe Banna ◽  
Julia Fullerton ◽  
Rebecca Broomfield ◽  
Chit Cheng Yeoh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Single Centre ◽  
Patients With Cancer ◽  
At Home
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document