Supportive care screening (SCS) in the inpatient setting identifies patients at risk of distress and assists with determining the physical and psychosocial needs of patients. It promotes communication between the patient and the health care professional thereby facilitating timely and appropriate referrals reducing anxiety and distress levels. There is limited experience using SCS within an outpatient clinic setting due to the time constraints of clinicians and the high patient flow in this environment.
This project focuses on determining a method for introducing SCS into the outpatient setting.
A review of current activity and available resources within the specialist clinics was undertaken. This identified underutilised referral pathways and limited knowledge of existing resources for oncology patients. Fortunately, it was found that clinic nurses, despite less oncology knowledge, were eager to participate in the implementation process.
To establish SCS within the outpatient setting the following steps were undertaken:
• Engagement with key stakeholders including senior nursing staff ,allied health staff, medical oncologists and outpatient clinic nursing staff
• Workshop for clinic nursing staff which included identifying resources available for staff and patient use; case studies to generate discussion around potential patient scenarios and develop the nurses ability to identify patient needs
• Establishment of a resource folder containing action and referral toolkit, supportive care directory and wellness and community programs
• Implementation of SCS in one clinic initially (Neuro-Oncology) in order to establish this into routine clinic activity
SCS is now routinely used within the Neuro-Oncology outpatient clinic with nurses initiating screening for all new patients and providing appropriate resources or referrals. Regular educational programmes have been developed for all clinic nurses to enable ongoing supportive care learning.
The plan for the remainder of 2013 is to continue implementation SCS to all oncology outpatient clinics using this model.