Proposed Topic (Most preferred): :
Clinical Safety and Quality Service III (Projects aiming at quality service to patients and their carers)
Authors (including presenting author) :
Yip YW(1), Chan CK(1), Chan KW(1), Chan TJ(1), Cheung YP(1), Choi KL(1), Chiu WK(1), Wong KC(1)
Affiliation :
(1)Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Prince of Wales Hospital, HKSAR
Introduction :
Musculoskeletal tumour (MST) is a rare but complicated disease worldwide. Multidisciplinary input is usually needed to achieve better disease outcomes. Traditional cancer service model is specialty-based with multiple points of contact. In order to optimize the fragmented care pathways, a Cancer Case Manager (CCM) Program for MST patients was launched in 2021. CCM acts as a single-point contact for patients, coordinates various clinical activities and provides patient-centered consultation to smooth patient journey during the treatment process.
Objectives :
The aims of this paper are to analysis the service needs of MST patients and to evaluate the patient satisfaction of CCM program.
Methodology :
This study was conducted in Prince of Wales Hospital from October 2021 to December 2023. CCM recruited MST patients after bad news was broken, and provided individualized information and services to them throughout the patient journey. Those MST patients were invited to complete a patient satisfaction survey before exiting from the program. It was a designed survey using a five-point score that ranged from 1 (very dissatisfied) to 5 (very satisfied), focusing on different stages of CCM care, included pre-operation, in-patient hospitalization and post-operation period. Besides, the demographic data of recruited patients and the CCM service activities were recorded and analyzed.
Result & Outcome :
Total 180 MST patients were recruited. The most prevalence cancer diagnosis was soft tissue sarcoma (59.5%) and skin cancer (19.5%), followed by osteosarcoma (10%), giant cell tumour of bone (6%) and fibromatosis (5%). Over 3000 CCM services activities were delivered to patients based on their needs. The majority of CCM services included provide “counselling” (28%), “discussion of treatment plan” (23%) and “follow up treatment progress and coordination” (15%). Total 136 patients were exited from CCM program with 96 surveys were received, the response rate was 71%. The exit reasons were “completed treatment” (74%) and “referred to palliative care” (11%), meanwhile 15% were “passed away” or “other reasons” such as refused treatment. For the rating of CCM services, the highest rating was 4.77 and 4.76 in term of “introduction of program”, “follow-up arrangement” and “troubleshooting”. The overall satisfaction rating for CCM service was 4.74. This study illustrated that CCM had positive impact in all stages of treatment for MST patients, particularly in self-awareness of their disease management and provide single-point assistance. The CCM program has pared toward the personalized care in MST patients, nevertheless some parts of activities could be optimized for further application and improvement of cancer care.
