Intervention to Improve Continuity of Care in Lung Cancer Patients

NCT01389739 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 020097
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 206
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Many authors have recognized the need to overcome the different barriers to continuity of cancer care, such as inadequate communication between specialists and family physicians (FP), insufficient information provided for the long-term follow-up care and difficulties to transfer back to FP the responsibility for cancer care at the end of treatments. This study aims to assess the effectiveness of a multi-faceted intervention to improve continuity of care for patients with lung cancer. Newly diagnosed lung cancer patients who have a FP will be randomly assigned to either the intervention group or to usual care and they will be followed at baseline, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 and 18 months ( or until death for those with a survival of less than 18 months). The intervention comprises 4 components: 1) systematic appointments with FP at 3-month interval ; 2) transmission to FP of a standardized comprehensive summary before each appointment; 3) systematic transmission to the oncology team of patients' information resulting from FP visits; 4) development of a priority access to FP for cancer patients. In both groups, outcomes related to patients and to care processes will be measured at baseline and then after 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 and 18 months (or until death for those with a survival of less than 18months). Patients' principal family caregiver will be invited to participate to the study and they will complete questionnaires at baseline, at 6 months and at the end of the study. In addition, patients' FP will also be invited to complete a questionnaire at baseline and at the end of the study.

Conditions

Lung Cancer

Keywords

continuity of care; interprofessional collaboration

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Mean score of perceived collaboration between FP and the oncology team (from 0 to 100)

  Adaptation of Nielsen et al.'s questionnaire used to measure collaboration between health professionals (2003)

  18 months

Secondary Outcomes (2)

• Mean score of Global Quality of life

  18 months

• Mean score of Distress, Anxiety and Depression

  18 months

Study Arms (2)

Exposed to the intervention

EXPERIMENTAL

Patients in the intervention arm will be exposed to a multi-faceted intervention to improve continuity of care; the intervention includes 4 components: 1) systematic appointments with FP at 3-month interval during the study period; 2) transmission to FP of a standardized comprehensive summary before each appointment; 3)systematic transmission to the oncology team of patients' information resulting from FP visits; 4) development of a priority access to FP for cancer patients

Other: Multi-faceted intervention to improve continuity of care

Usual care

NO INTERVENTION

Interventions

Multi-faceted intervention to improve continuity of care OTHER

Periodic exchange of information between FP and oncology team and systematic appointments with FP at 3-month interval

Also known as: Change in practice organization

Exposed to the intervention

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• newly diagnosed adult patients with lung cancer, with a prognosis of at least 3 months

You may not qualify if:

• cognitive impairment

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Laval University: lead
• Canadian Cancer Society (CCS): collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Institut universitaire de cardiologie et pneumologie de Québec (IUCPQ)

Québec, Quebec, G1V 4G5, Canada

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Lung Neoplasms

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Respiratory Tract Neoplasms; Thoracic Neoplasms; Neoplasms by Site; Neoplasms; Lung Diseases; Respiratory Tract Diseases

Study Officials

• Michele Aubin, MD, PhD

  Laval University

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Professeur

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: February 14, 2011
• First Posted: July 8, 2011
• Study Start: June 1, 2009
• Primary Completion: December 1, 2014
• Study Completion: December 1, 2014
• Last Updated: April 1, 2015

Record last verified: 2013-05

Locations

CA (1)