Making steps to decrease emergency room visits in patients with cancer: Our experience after participating in the ASCO Quality Training Program.

Authors

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Brian Hunis

Memorial Cancer Institute, Ft. Lauderdale, FL

Brian Hunis, Alvaro Jose Alencar, Aurelio Bartolome Castrellon, Luis E. Raez, Vedner Guerrier

Organizations

Memorial Cancer Institute, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, Memor Cancer Inst, Miami Beach, FL, University of Miami, Pembroke Pines, FL, Memor Cancer Inst, Pembroke Pines, FL

Research Funding

No funding sources reported

Background: Overutilization of emergency room services by oncology patients is a known problem associated with increased admission rates and health care expenditure. A review of our oncology patients’ emergency room (ER) visits from January to May 2015 demonstrated that 48% of ER visits happened during office hours. Consequently a rapid cycle quality improvement project was developed with an aim to decrease ER visits by 30% by September 2015. Methods: A multidisciplinary team completed an action plan, starting with a project charter and definition of aim statement. A process map for patient scheduling/triage was created. A cause and effect diagram helped identify potential causes patient utilization of the ER. Diagnostic data were obtained querying our EMR (EPIC) for ER visits from January to May 2015. A Pareto chart identified Breast, Hematology and GI malignancies as main diagnosis utilizing the ER. Plan-do-study-act (PDSA) #1 began with development of a protocol to guide the handling of patients' calls that could previously resulted in an ER visit. Staff from the patient access center (PAC), a telephone operator service, and physicians’ offices were trained on its application. PDSA #2 focused on patient education to the importance of contacting the PAC for any concern or symptom related to active chemotherapy treatment. Results: The implementation of a triage system at our PAC resulted in a 60% decrease in the number of patients utilizing the ER, which met our goal. Patients’ calls to the PAC have increased. Two new materials were developed: a telephone triage form categorizing the patient’s complaint and the resulting action by our PAC center staff, and a patient Clinical Intervention Triage Tracking Log which allowed for the tracking of all patients triaged, their data, and the responsible team member. Conclusions: This study suggests that the development of a tool to properly identify and address emergent chemotherapy symptoms without utilizing the ER during working hours resulted in an intervention that positively affected the pre-specified endpoint.

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Abstract Details

Meeting

2016 ASCO Quality Care Symposium

Session Type

Poster Session

Session Title

Poster Session A: Practice of Quality and Cost, Value, and Policy in Quality

Track

Cost, Value, and Policy in Quality,Practice of Quality,Science of Quality

Sub Track

Learning from Projects Done in a Health System

Citation

J Clin Oncol 34, 2016 (suppl 7S; abstr 51)

DOI

10.1200/jco.2016.34.7_suppl.51

Abstract #

51

Poster Bd #

A2

Abstract Disclosures