To improve patient outcomes for upper gastrointestinal (UGI) cancer patients by establishing communication between metro and regional health services
UGI cancer patients are referred from Albury Wodonga Health (AWH) to Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre (PMCC) for complex surgery. Western and Central Melbourne Integrated Cancer Service (WCMICS) and Hume Region Integrated Cancer Service (HRICS) identified that lack of a communication process between AWH and PMCC affected patient outcomes.
WCMICS and HRICS developed a REDCap (Research Electronic Data Capture) database with expert advice provided by the PMCC and AWH clinical working group.
The tool was built to reflect and integrate with the clinician workflow. Entry of patients into the REDCap database by the AWH cancer coordinators generates an automatic email notification which informs the relevant stakeholders of the newly referred patient. This enables clinicians at both health services to enter the patient’s medical information in the database. It also allows the clinicians to document significant handover information when patient care is transferred from one health service to other. The database allows optimum data entry by uploading consultation notes from the medical record system to avoid duplication of data entry.
It was decided to run the pilot from March 2021 to end of August 2021.
6 patients have been captured in the REDCap database by the AWH-PMCC clinicians during the pilot phase. The clinicians report that it is an effective tool for communication in the absence of a shared platform between the metro and regional health services.
The Victorian Cancer Plan 2020-24 directs the metro-regional health providers to communicate and collaborate effectively to ensure quality of care is provided for regional patients. The REDCap database model allows efficient communication and visibility of patient treatment journey between health services thus providing quality of care and better patient outcomes.