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. 2021 Mar;8(1):e32-e35.
doi: 10.7861/fhj.2020-0110.

Tracking cancer patients during COVID-19 using structured outcomes and keywords

Rowan Wathes  1 , Katherine van Ree  2 , Gareth Gwynn  3 , Phawan Hurhangee  3 , Catherine Urch  4
Affiliations

Tracking cancer patients during COVID-19 using structured outcomes and keywords

Rowan Wathes et al. Future Healthc J. 2021 Mar.

Abstract

For the duration of COVID-19, cancer pathways will be affected by the significant loss of elective capacity and increased risk of COVID-19-related morbidity and mortality for cancer patients. Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust (ICHT) has developed a simple, effective MDT recording process, using keywords, to support the tracking of patients who require treatment prioritisation, repeated clinical/MDT reviews and/or need adjustments to their treatment. Following implementation in April, the percentage of MDT outcomes with keywords recorded was 79% in June and 77% for the first two weeks of July. Analysis of the 3,680 MDT outcomes with at least one key word recorded showed that 96% had the 'intention to proceed' recorded. For 59% patients, the decision was to 'proceed', 5% patients are being monitored, 3% patients have been deferred and 29% were 'closed'. While this process adds time to busy MDTs, we hypothesise that it will support the tracking and safety-netting of thousands of cancer patients whose care has been affected by the pandemic. The process could easily be implemented in other trusts and adapted for other specialties.

Keywords: COVID-19; MDT outcomes; cancer; recovery; tracking.

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Figures

Fig 1.
Fig 1.
Outcome keywords. Each structured outcome needs to include one key word from section 1 and one from section 2 (and one from section 3 if the patient is having surgery). ICHT = Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust; NHSE = NHS England; RMP CPG = Royal Marsden Partners Clinical Prioritisation Group.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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