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Showing results for tags 'Medicine - Oncology'.
Found 12 results
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News Article
‘Critical decision-making’ at major cancer centre left to trainees
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Trainee oncologists at a major cancer centre covered clinics and made “critical” decisions without senior supervision, including for cancers they were not trained for, HSJ has revealed. A Health Education England (HEE) reviews aid: “The review team was concerned to hear that trainees were still expected to cover clinics where no consultant was present, including clinics relating to tumour sites that they were unfamiliar with.” Guy’s and St Thomas’ Foundation Trust’s trainee clinical oncologists felt “they could only approach 50–75% of the consultants for critical decision-making”, the document said. The HEE “urgent concern review” report said: “The trainees also reported that there was a continued lack of clear consultant supervision for inpatient areas in clinical oncology, which meant that they were not able to access senior support for decision-making.” A trust spokesman said: “We recognise that senior support to the clinical team is a vital part of keeping our patients safe.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 16 January 2020 -
News Article
AI 'outperforms' doctors diagnosing breast cancer
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Artificial intelligence is more accurate than doctors in diagnosing breast cancer from mammograms, a study in the journal Nature suggests. An international team, including researchers from Google Health and Imperial College London, designed and trained a computer model on X-ray images from nearly 29,000 women. The algorithm outperformed six radiologists in reading mammograms. AI was still as good as two doctors working together. Unlike humans, AI is tireless. Experts say it could improve detection. Sara Hiom, director of cancer intelligence and early diagnosis at Cancer Research UK, told the BBC: "This is promising early research which suggests that in future it may be possible to make screening more accurate and efficient, which means less waiting and worrying for patients, and better outcomes." Read full story Source: BBC News, 2 January 2020 -
News ArticleCancer patients are being pushed to “breaking point” because of a lack of support from overstretched nurses and carers, a leading charity has warned. Almost half of specialist cancer nurses have told the Macmillan Cancer Support charity that their high workload was having a negative impact on patient care, while one in five people diagnosed with the disease say the staff responsible for their care have unmanageable demands. Now the charity says this is affecting patients, with thousands calling its specialist support helpline in distress and worried because they feel they can’t get answers from their health workers. Read full story Source: The Independent, 31 December 2019
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News Article
Health strike: Action could delay cancer diagnoses
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Patients are facing a week of disruption, with more than 10,000 outpatient appointments and surgeries cancelled in Belfast. Some people referred by their GPs on suspicion of cancer could have their diagnosis delayed, the head of the Belfast Trust has said. The trust apologised, blaming industrial action on pay and staffing. Martin Dillon said outpatient cancellations "could potentially lead to a delay in treatment" for cancer. The Department of Health said the serious disruption to services was "extremely distressing". Read full story Source: BBC News, 2 Decmeber 2019 -
News Article
Breast cancer: Patient creates app to help with treatment
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A mobile app designed by a patient is helping people with breast cancer prepare for the start of radiotherapy. The treatment requires them to raise their arm above their head, but patients often find that difficult or painful after breast surgery. Exercises are important but Karen Bonham said leaflets giving details did not help her enough. So she helped create the app to offer exercise videos and medics say it is helping more women be ready on time. Staff at Velindre Cancer Centre in Cardiff say they have noticed fewer patients needing urgent referral for physiotherapy ahead of the treatment since the "Breast Axilla Postoperative Support app", or BAPS App, was launched in February. Kate Baker, clinical lead physiotherapist at Velindre, who helped devise the app, said: "Previously, we've always handed out information on exercises in a leaflet, that patients would be given by a physiotherapist and taken home. But often these pieces of paper get lost and they're not followed through. "What we wanted to do was provide exercises, physical activity advice and further information in an app format, which would allow individuals to have it with them at all times." Donna Egbeare, breast surgeon at Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, who was also involved in developing the bilingual app, said the impact of being able to start radiotherapy on schedule was significant. Read full story Source: BBC News, 27 November 2019 -
Content Article
Review of national cancer screening programmes in England
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Cancers
The report called for people to be given much greater choice over when and where they are screened. It recommends that women should be able to choose appointments at doctors’ surgeries, health centres or locations close to their work during lunchtime or other breaks rather than having to attend their own GP practice. Local screening services should put on extra evening and weekend appointments for breast, cervical and other cancer checks. As people lead increasingly busy lives, local NHS areas should look at ways that they can provide appointments at locations that are easier to access. These documents provide details, including the terms of reference, for the review of national cancer screening programmes in England. -
Content Article
HQCA: Patient Experience Awards 2019
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Implementation of improvements
The following four initiatives were selected to receive the HQCA’s 2019 Patient Experience Awards: NowICU Project, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), Misericordia Community Hospital Rapid Access, Patient Focused Biopsy Clinic; Head and Neck Surgery, Pathology; University of Alberta Hospital Edmonton Prostate Interdisciplinary Cancer Clinic (EPICC), Northern Alberta Urology Centre Transitional Pain Service, South Health Campus Take a look at their presentations and find out more about these great initiatives. -
Content Article
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Content Article
Patient Stories: Paul's Story (10 March 2013)
Claire Cox posted an article in Patient stories
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Content ArticleFindings Participants’ perceptions regarding their engagement as a patient safety strategy were expressed through three overarching themes: the word 'patient' obscures the message safety is a shared responsibility involvement in safety is a right. Themes were further defined by eight subthemes. Conclusions Using direct messaging, such as 'your safety' as opposed to 'patient safety' and teaching patients specific behaviours to maintain their safety appeared to facilitate patient engagement and increase awareness of safety issues. Patients may be willing to accept some responsibility for ensuring their safety by engaging in behaviours that are intuitive or that they are clearly instructed to do. However, they described their involvement in their safety as a right, not an obligation. Interpretation Clear, inviting communication appears to have the greatest potential to enhance patients’ engagement in their safety. Nurses’ ongoing assessment of patients’ ability to engage is critical insofar as it provides the opportunity to encourage engagement without placing undue burden on them. By employing communication techniques that consider patients’ perspectives, nurses can support patient engagement.
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Content ArticleThe US National Comprehensive Cancer Network hosted the Ensuring Safety and Access in Cancer Care Policy Summit in June 2017 to discuss pertinent patient safety issues and access implications under the Trump administration, as well as policy and advocacy strategies to address these gaps and build on opportunities moving forward. This report summarises the discussions from the Summit.
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Content ArticleKey findings The investigation identified that there: are multiple opportunities for error in the processes used to communicate unexpected findings are many steps that have to be completed successfully before the patient is informed is variance in how clinicians receive findings and how they acknowledge receipt of them.
