Background and aims:
Optimal Cancer Care Pathways (OCPs) for 15 tumour types became available in late 2015. These national guides promote consistent and high quality cancer care. We aimed to measure the current awareness and use of OCPs in Queensland, in preparation for implementation.
Method:
The study team was granted permission from SA Health to use the South Australia Cancer Pathway Evaluation 2015 survey tool. This anonymous 24 question survey was advertised through health professional networks by Queensland Health and Cancer Council Queensland. The survey was open for 2 weeks in February 2017 and contained 5 demographic questions, 17 fixed response questions and 2 free text questions. The survey was available electronically with all response items optional for completion.
Key results:
The survey received 502 responses with varying completion rates for each question. 16% of respondents state they were aware of the OCPs prior to the survey (68 aware, 355 unaware, 79 skipped). 35% (n=24) of those aware state they have used OCPs in their work. The most frequent uses stated were to apply to own clinical practice (78%, n =17), followed by service planning (50%, n=11), information provision/education for staff (27%, n=6) or consumers (27%, n=6), auditing/benchmarking (18%, n=4) and research (9%, n=2)). 131 respondents (26%) registered their interest in implementing OCPs.
Conclusions:
While the survey was designed to understand Queensland health professional’s awareness of OCPs; it was also a successful marketing opportunity, raising awareness with more than 350 respondents previously unware of the OCPs. The survey identified a small number of individuals already undertaking implementation and others ready and willing to begin implementation. Those who registered interest were invited to a forum in May 2017 to start implementation design and address some of challenges of implementation. Achieving widespread adoption of OCPs in Queensland will require additional engagement.