Jennifer Smylie

Piloting a regional collaborative in cancer surgery using a “community of practice” model

BACKGROUND Patients requiring assessment for cancer surgery encounter a complex series of steps in their cancer journey. Further complicating the process is the fact that care is often delivered in a fragmented, silo-based system. Isolated strategies to improve cancer outcomes within those systems have had inconsistent results. METHODS A regional quality improvement collaborative was developed based on a community of practice (cop) platform, a hub-and-spoke infrastructure, and a regional steering committee linking cop improvement projects with affiliated hospitals and their strategic priorities. The cop provided an avenue for multidisciplinary teams to collect and compare their performance data and to institute regional standards through literature review, discussion, and consensus. Regional interdisciplinary teams developed a set of quality indicators linked to mutually agreed-upon care standards. A limited regional database supported feedback about performance against both provincial and regional standards. RESULTS The cop approach helped to develop a multihospital collaboration that facilitated care quality improvements on a regional scale, with clinical outcomes of the improvements able to be measured. The 9 participating hospitals delivered cancer surgery in the specific disease sites according to practitioner-developed and provincially- or regionally-generated care standards and clinical pathways. Compliance with provincial evidence-based clinical guidelines improved (20% increase in 2010-2011 compared with 2006-2007). Other significant improvements included standardization and implementation of regional perioperative pathways in breast, colorectal, and prostate cancer disease sites; rectal cancer surgery centralization; increased use of sentinel lymph node biopsies in breast cancer surgery; and decreased positive surgical margin rates in prostate cancer. CONCLUSIONS Improved quality is likely a result of diverse confounding factors. The deliberately cultivated multihospital multidisciplinary cops have contributed to positive structural and functional change in cancer surgery in the region. This regional cop model has the potential to play an important role in the development of successful collaborations in care quality improvement.

Use of a community of practice (CoP) platform as a model in regional quality improvements in cancer surgery: The Ottawa model.

68 Background: The Ottawa CoP model for developing multidisciplinary practitioner networks and integrating them with organizational processes was established in 2007 as a platform improving access to quality cancer surgery in one of the health regions (population 1,276,370) of Ontario, Canada. The three inter-disciplinary CoP collaboratives in breast, colorectal, and prostate cancer involve 230 care providers from 9 hospitals performing over 2,000 cancer surgeries per year. OBJECTIVES 1) to address lack of coordination and standardization of care, 2) develop a regional platform for quality initiatives, and 3) bridge the gap between academic and community hospitals. METHODS Using the model, an academic tertiary care hospital and eight community hospitals partnered to support a regional quality improvement initiative that combines 1) educational outreach with audit and feedback to address variations in practice and 2) a unique platform for knowledge generation and innovation. Regional interdisciplinary teams developed a set of regional quality indicators (18) linked to mutually agreed standards and pathways. Regional registry was established to provide data feedback on performance against both provincial and regional standards. Best practices, innovations, and implementation progress are reviewed through sustained interactions between CoP members. Patient and care provider surveys are conducted. RESULTS The development and implementation of regional care standards and clinical pathways for three disease sites in 9 hospitals. Regional pathway compliance ranged 65-94%. Other significant improvements include: rectal cancer surgery centralization (80-90% per annum), increase in use of sentinel lymph node biopsies in breast cancer surgery (60-77% per annum) and a decreased positive prostate cancer surgical margin rate form 45% to 22%. Compliance with provincial guidelines for colon cancer surgery improved (20% increase 2006/2007 vs. 2010/2011). Increase in patient access to high-quality cancer surgery closer to home. CONCLUSIONS Participation in the regional CoPs is associated with quality improvements at the system, patient, and professional levels.

How do the characteristics of breast cancer diagnostic assessment programmes influence service delivery: A mixed methods study

Diagnostic assessment programmes (DAPs) coordinate multidisciplinary teamwork (MDT), and improve wait times and patient satisfaction. No research has established optimal DAP design. This study explored how DAP characteristics influence service delivery. A mixed methods case study of four breast cancer DAPs was conducted including qualitative interviews with health‐care providers and retrospective chart review. Data were integrated using multiple approaches. Twenty‐three providers were interviewed; 411 medical records were reviewed. The number of visits and wait times from referral to diagnosis and consultation were lowest at a one‐stop model. DAP characteristics (rural–remote region, human resources, referral volume, organisation of services, adherence to service delivery targets and one‐stop model) may influence service delivery (number of visits, wait times). MDT, influenced by other DAP characteristics (co‐location of staff, patient navigators, team functioning), may also influence service delivery. While the one‐stop model may be ideal, all sites experienced similar and unique challenges. Further research is needed to understand how to optimise the organisation and delivery of DAP services. Measures reflecting individual, team and patient‐reported outcomes should be used to assess the effectiveness and impact of DAPs in addition to more traditional measures such as wait times.

How do organisational characteristics influence teamwork and service delivery in lung cancer diagnostic assessment programmes? A mixed-methods study

Objectives Diagnostic assessment programmes (DAPs) can reduce wait times for cancer diagnosis, but optimal DAP design is unknown. This study explored how organisational characteristics influenced multidisciplinary teamwork and diagnostic service delivery in lung cancer DAPs. Design A mixed-methods approach integrated data from descriptive qualitative interviews and medical record abstraction at 4 lung cancer DAPs. Findings were analysed with the Integrated Team Effectiveness Model. Setting 4 DAPs at 2 teaching and 2 community hospitals in Canada. Participants 22 staff were interviewed about organisational characteristics, target service benchmarks, and teamwork processes, determinants and outcomes; 314 medical records were reviewed for actual service benchmarks. Results Formal, informal and asynchronous team processes enabled service delivery and yielded many perceived benefits at the patient, staff and service levels. However, several DAP characteristics challenged teamwork and service delivery: referral volume/workload, time since launch, days per week of operation, rural–remote population, number and type of full-time/part-time human resources, staff colocation, information systems. As a result, all sites failed to meet target benchmarks (from referral to consultation median 4.0 visits, median wait time 35.0 days). Recommendations included improved information systems, more staff in all specialties, staff colocation and expanded roles for patient navigators. Findings were captured in a conceptual framework of lung cancer DAP teamwork determinants and outcomes. Conclusions This study identified several DAP characteristics that could be improved to facilitate teamwork and enhance service delivery, thereby contributing to knowledge of organisational determinants of teamwork and associated outcomes. Findings can be used to update existing DAP guidelines, and by managers to plan or evaluate lung cancer DAPs. Ongoing research is needed to identify ideal roles for navigators, and staffing models tailored to case volumes.

Regional process redesign of lung cancer care: a learning health system pilot project

Background The Ottawa Hospital (toh) defined delay to timely lung cancer care as a system design problem. Recognizing the patient need for an integrated journey and the need for dynamic alignment of providers, toh used a learning health system (lhs) vision to redesign regional diagnostic processes. A lhs is driven by feedback utilizing operational and clinical information to drive system optimization and innovation. An essential component of a lhs is a collaborative platform that provides connectivity across silos, organizations, and professions. Methods To operationalize a lhs, we developed the Ottawa Health Transformation Model (ohtm) as a consensus approach that addresses process barriers, resistance to change, and conflicting priorities. A regional Community of Practice (cop) was established to engage stakeholders, and a dedicated transformation team supported process improvements and implementation. Results The project operationalized the lung cancer diagnostic pathway and optimized patient flow from referral to initiation of treatment. Twelve major processes in referral, review, diagnostics, assessment, triage, and consult were redesigned. The Ottawa Hospital now provides a diagnosis to 80% of referrals within the provincial target of 28 days. The median patient journey from referral to initial treatment decreased by 48% from 92 to 47 days. Conclusions The initiative optimized regional integration from referral to initial treatment. Use of a lhs lens enabled the creation of a system that is standardized to best practice and open to ongoing innovation. Continued transformation initiatives across the continuum of care are needed to incorporate best practice and optimize delivery systems for regional populations.

A Virtual Patient Navigation Application for Lung Cancer Assessment Patients.

A virtual patient navigator is a web/mobile application that helps patients with lung cancer diagnosis reduce their anxiety and uncertainties. In particular, lung cancer patients easily become overwhelmed when having to manage information overload, many appointments with different instructions and locations, and recommendations on how to improve their lifestyle. Existing solutions such as paper-based patient navigators provide much reliable information but are limited in terms of dynamic updates and do not provide opportunities for interactions between care providers and patients. In this paper, we propose a new web-based, mobile, and user-friendly virtual patient navigator application named Care Ami, which incorporates the information found in an existing paper-based navigator along with new features such as remote updates to personal care paths and calendars, personalized navigation guidance, sharing of symptom/medication information, and peer group support. The architecture and main features of this application are presented. Based on the identified requirements, Care Ami compares favorably against related work and solutions.