Addressing challenges in telephone triage for outpatient oncology care: A data-centred digital routing solution.

Authors

null

Mike Lovas

Cancer Digital Intelligence, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, UHN, Toronto, ON, Canada

Mike Lovas, Monika K. Krzyzanowska, Faiza Somji, Shayla Devonish, Grace Spiro, Tran Truong, Kelly Lane, Adam Badzynski, Susan Wolf, Iryna Tymoshyk, Alyssa Macedo, Graham Dozois, Ana Bravo, Anet Julius, Lesley Moody, Simranjit Kooner, Sheena Melwani, Alejandro Berlin

Organizations

Cancer Digital Intelligence, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, UHN, Toronto, ON, Canada, Division of Medical Oncology & Haematology, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, UHN, Toronto, ON, Canada, Cancer Digital Intelligence, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada, Cancer Care Quality and Innovation, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, UHN, Toronto, ON, Canada

Research Funding

Other Foundation
Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation

Background: As cancer care shifts to a predominately outpatient model, there is growing recognition that optimizing communication between patients and their care providers between scheduled visits can improve efficiency and patient outcomes. Princess Margaret Cancer Centre (PM), which sees over 80,000 patients annually, operates with many parallel telephone triage lines as the primary means of patients-provider communication. When a patient needs to contact their care team, they are instructed to leave a voicemail and wait for a response. In a high-volume setting this model presents many challenges to the patient experience, provider efficiency, and patient safety. The purpose of this pilot project was to design, implement, and assess the feasibility of a digital channel for patients to reach their care team. Methods: We used a human-centred design approach to develop a new digital triage service. First, we analyzed manually collected triage call data over a one-year period to understand the most common patient queries of the telephone triage service. Through co-design, a new digital-triage service was conceptualized and prototyped. Subsequently, we tested a data-centred digital routing algorithm for patient concerns and symptoms. To evaluate implementation and assess feasibility, we collected usage data, satisfaction surveys, and conducted staff shadowing and interviews. We used PDSA cycles to refine user experience and clinical workflows. Results: Patient adoption of digital triage increased continuously over 9 months, with volumes surpassing voicemail after four months: over the last four months digital triage has encompassed on average 63% of the total request volumes. The response rate to patient surveys was 21%. Patients indicated being very satisfied or satisfied (74.4%), neutral (6.7%), and dissatisfied or very dissatisfied (18.9%). Interviews with leading triage staff suggest the digital channel improves triage efficiency and redirecting/escalation by providing structured and complete patient queries. Conclusions: The pilot highlights the feasibility and acceptability of a digital-triage service in a comprehensive cancer care setting. By leveraging digital tools and real-time data, PM addressed the challenges of telephone triage, enabling a more efficient process to respond to patients’ needs, while demonstrating high adoption and patient satisfaction. Subsequent work will expand the use of digital triage to all disease sites across the cancer centre, and create foundational workflows and technology for proactive care models, such as Remote Patient Monitoring.

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Abstract Details

Meeting

2023 ASCO Quality Care Symposium

Session Type

Poster Session

Session Title

Poster Session B

Track

Health Care Access, Equity, and Disparities,Technology and Innovation in Quality of Care,Palliative and Supportive Care

Sub Track

Use of IT/Analytics to Improve Quality

Citation

JCO Oncol Pract 19, 2023 (suppl 11; abstr 591)

DOI

10.1200/OP.2023.19.11_suppl.591

Abstract #

591

Poster Bd #

N14

Abstract Disclosures

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