A standard handoff with medication reconciliation at every cancer care transition
Errors happen when patients move from hospital to home, from surgery to chemotherapy, or from oncology back to their family doctor. A short standard checklist and a pharmacist medication review at each move would prevent many of them.
Cancer care involves more transitions than most conditions, and each is a point where information and medications are lost or duplicated. Standardised handoff tools and pharmacist-led medication reconciliation reduce adverse drug events in general medicine; oncology-specific versions covering oral anticancer agents, steroids, anticoagulants, and opioids are rare. Implementing them as a required step at defined transitions is inexpensive.
- Fragmented care and guideline gaps · Patients fall between specialists, wait for referrals and often do not get the treatment guidelines say they should.
- Older and multimorbid patients are excluded and undertreated · Most people with cancer are over 65 but most trial patients are younger and fitter. We guess how to treat the majority.
- Toxicity and quality of life are undervalued · Trials measure how long people live, not how they live. Side-effects are under-reported and under-treated.
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not linked directly; found by shared links- IdeaFormal shared-care agreements between oncology and family doctors, with same-day e-consult
Shares Older and multimorbid patients are excluded and undertreated, Fragmented care and guideline gaps.
- IdeaOncology hospital-at-home with remote monitoring for toxicity
Shares Fragmented care and guideline gaps, Toxicity and quality of life are undervalued.
- IdeaHospital-at-home for oncology: treating low-risk febrile neutropenia and dehydration at home
Shares Older and multimorbid patients are excluded and undertreated, Fragmented care and guideline gaps, Toxicity and quality of life are undervalued.
- IdeaHome administration of selected chemotherapy and immunotherapy for older and frail patients
Shares Older and multimorbid patients are excluded and undertreated, Fragmented care and guideline gaps.
- IdeaA defined pathway for patients with both dementia and cancer
Shares Older and multimorbid patients are excluded and undertreated, Fragmented care and guideline gaps.
- IdeaWeekly electronic symptom reporting as a standard of care during systemic therapy
Shares Fragmented care and guideline gaps, Toxicity and quality of life are undervalued.
- IdeaAcute oncology assessment units so sick cancer patients bypass the emergency department
Shares Fragmented care and guideline gaps, Toxicity and quality of life are undervalued.
- IdeaReport time toxicity, the days spent in healthcare, as a standard outcome for older patients
Shares Older and multimorbid patients are excluded and undertreated, Toxicity and quality of life are undervalued.