Abstract
Background/Aims Patient-centered communication (PCC) between clinicians and patients is necessary for quality care. Measurement of communication over the cancer care continuum is an important step in describing current practices and remediating breakdowns. As a first step in developing a system to assess PCC longitudinally across the cancer care continuum, we interviewed patients, family members, physicians, health information technology (HIT) leaders, and health plan leaders. The purpose of the present study was to expand our understanding of possible approaches to create and implement such a system by conducting a symposium with experts and stakeholders.
Methods We conducted a symposium with experts in the field of HIT, academic researchers, investigators from the 14 Cancer Research Network sites, information technology (IT) advisors from each CRN site, National Cancer Institute staff, and investigators and consultants involved with the project. The purpose of the symposium was to have experts in the field of HIT present possible approaches to computerizing data collection and feedback of patients’ experiences with PCC and to engage in an active dialogue around the strengths and weaknesses of the different approaches proposed. Prior to the meeting, we distributed a list of questions for the IT experts to address in their presentations, based on issues, which have been identified during the interviews. The symposium was digitally recorded, professionally transcribed, and coded using grounded theory approaches.
Results Themes identified during the symposium focused on contextual factors to be considered when creating a communication feedback system; data liquidity, using one system in multiple healthcare environments that are very diverse, and hat modality to use when there are a variety of preferences for communication and the technology is constantly evolving. The symposium also confirmed themes that emerged from the interviews; the system would need to be flexible and provide choices, the data obtained would need to be aggregated at a meaningful level, and feedback must be timely.
Discussion Our multiple pronged approaches have provided us with unique insights that will be used in the development of a prototype data collection system, pilot testing of the system, and ultimately implementation of the system in multiple health plans.
