Improving thyroid function monitoring in head and neck cancer patients: A quality improvement study.
Laryngoscope
; 130(11): E573-E579, 2020 11.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-31778220
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
To investigate and improve compliance of thyroid function monitoring in head and neck cancer patients who received radiotherapy to the cervical region before and after instituting quality improvement interventions.METHODS:
Using the Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA) methodology, patients with head and neck malignancies who received radiotherapy to the cervical region from 2013-2015 were identified at a tertiary medical center. The status of the patients' thyroid monitoring and related characteristics were recorded. A quality improvement project was subsequently implemented by data sharing and providing feedback to practitioners involved in head and neck cancer care and creating a tracking database for all patients who received radiotherapy to the neck. After implementation of these interventions, data was collected on patients meeting the inclusion criteria from 2015-2017.RESULTS:
One hundred fifty-six patients met criteria pre-intervention and ninety-eight patients met criteria post-intervention. Compliance of thyroid monitoring went up from 34% to 80% after interventions (P < .0001). There was a significant increase in thyroid testing performed by radiation oncologists after interventions from 2% to 21%, while medical oncologists and otolaryngologists remained consistent in their compliance rates.CONCLUSION:
It is possible to improve compliance with evidence-based recommendations and improve the quality-of-care for head and neck cancer survivors through simple, cost effective interventions. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE 2 Laryngoscope, 130E573-E579, 2020.Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Lesões por Radiação
/
Testes de Função Tireóidea
/
Melhoria de Qualidade
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Neoplasias de Cabeça e Pescoço
Tipo de estudo:
Evaluation_studies
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Prognostic_studies
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Sysrev_observational_studies
Limite:
Adult
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Aged
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Aged80
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Female
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Humans
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Male
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Middle aged
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2020
Tipo de documento:
Article