Delivering care to oncology patients in the community: an innovative integrated approach.

A community oncology nursing programme was developed in Ireland between the hospital and community health services for patients receiving systemic cancer therapy, in response to a service need. A robust evaluation of the pilot programme was undertaken, which found that defined clinical procedures traditionally undertaken in hospitals were safely undertaken in the patient's home with no adverse effects. There was a dramatic decrease in hospital attendances for these defined clinical procedures, and hospital capacity was consequently freed up. Patients valued having aspects of their care delivered at home and reported that it improved their quality of life, including reduced hospital visits and travel time. Community nurses expanded their scope of practice and became partners with oncology day-ward nurses in caring for these patients. Community nurses developed the competence and confidence to safely deliver cancer care in the community. This initiative shows that defined elements of acute cancer care can be safely delivered in the community so long as the training and support are provided. The findings and recommendations of the evaluation resulted in university accreditation and approval for national roll-out of the programme. Integration of services between primary and secondary care is a key priority. This innovative programme is a good example of shared integrated care that benefits both patients and health-care providers.

A National Cyberattack Affecting Radiation Therapy: The Irish Experience.

On Friday, May 14, 2021, the Health Service Executive, the organization providing public health services in the Republic of Ireland, was the victim of a significant cyberattack on its information technology systems. All systems were subsequently shut down to prevent further damage and to allow cybersecurity experts to investigate the attack. As a result, oncology services were severely disrupted, with the cessation of radiation therapy treatments in all public radiation therapy departments. Ireland has 5 large public and 6 smaller private radiation therapy centers in total. Because of the widespread adoption of electronic medical records in radiation therapy departments, it wasn't possible to retrieve patient details of those who were undergoing radiation therapy at the time of the cyberattack. In total, 513 patients nationally had their radiation therapy interrupted. A national radiation therapy cyberattack response team was formed immediately to oversee the response to the attack. The immediate concerns were radiation therapy emergencies and category 1 patients where gaps in treatment would have an adverse effect on outcome. Communication with patients and the public was also established as a priority and agreements were reached with the private sector for the treatment of patients affected by the cyberattack. The national media was used to alert patients of the need to communicate with their radiation therapy department. Dedicated phone lines were established. Locally, radiation therapy departments held daily crisis meetings with key staff members, including information technology personnel. Individual centers employed different technologies for treatment planning and data storage, so local solutions to the cyberattack to reestablish radiation therapy for patients were developed. In addition, national documentation on prioritization of patients to resume treatment was produced and a national approach was made to compensate for gaps in treatment caused by the attack. All 5 centers had reestablished radiation therapy by May 30, although there has been a long aftermath to the cyberattack. In this article, we provide an overview of the effects of the cyberattack on our national radiation therapy service and our strategy to resume patient treatment in a timely fashion.

Building capacity: getting evidence-based practice into healthcare professional curricula.

Fostering a culture of clinical effectiveness in healthcare is crucial to achieving optimum outcomes for patients. Evidence-based practice (EBP) is a cornerstone of clinical effectiveness. An EBP capacity-building project commenced in Ireland in 2016, in collaboration with the Centre of Evidence-Based Medicine in Oxford. A key part of this project, reported here, was the development of a competency framework for education in EBP and clinical effectiveness to ensure responsiveness of education standards and curricula of healthcare professionals in this area. METHODS: Following a review of national and international reports, professional guidance documents and empirical literature pertaining to clinical effectiveness education (CEE), a preliminary competency framework was developed. Stakeholder consultations were conducted over a 6-month period, which consisted of 13 focus groups (n=45) and included representatives from clinical practice, higher education and professional training sectors, regulator/accrediting bodies, the Department of Health (Ireland) and patient/service user groups. RESULTS: An overarching interprofessional competency framework for CEE was proposed and included the following domains: EBP, quality improvement processes, implementation strategies and collaborative practice: a total of 16 competencies and 60 indicators. CONCLUSION: A competency framework for CEE for health and social care professionals is presented. It is intended that this framework will provide guidance to healthcare educators and regulators in the construction and revision of curricula, learning outcomes, teaching and assessment strategies, and graduate/clinician attributes.