Nurse‐led telephone follow‐up for early palliative care patients with advanced cancer

Abstract

Aim and objectives To present our experience of a nursing telephone consultation service, describing patient and caregiver requests, and outlining ensuing nursing or medical interventions. Background Recently, there has been an increase in the use of telephone consultation for cancer patients. However, there is still limited data on the characteristics of this type of service and on the nature of the interventions carried out. Design and methods In this observational retrospective study, we evaluated the phone calls made over a 6‐month period by patients or caregivers to the early palliative care team of a cancer institute. Information regarding telephone calls (frequency, reason and management) was systematically collected by a nursing case manager. The study complies with the STROBE checklist File S1. Results 171 patients used the service, for a total of 323 phone calls. The majority (80.8%) were from patients followed at the outpatient clinic and the most common requests were for pain management (38.4%) and for updates on the clinical situation (23.8%). Other frequent requests were for medication management (18.9%) and scheduling (18.3%). 210 of the 323 phone calls were handled by the nurse, while 22 were managed in collaboration with a physician. An 87.6% effectiveness in telephone management was observed. Conclusion The overall use of the phone service was higher for early palliative care patients. The majority of phone calls were effectively handled by the nursing case manager. Relevance to clinical practice An effective and feasible nurse‐led telephone follow‐up of early palliative care patients with advanced cancer could improve their care experience. Specifically, it could impact on patients and families improving quality of life and symptom control securing access to timely care without travel or additional cost.It can also improve continuity of care, adherence to oncological treatments and minimise acute care visits.

Development of the palliative care referral system: proposal of a tool for the referral of cancer patients to specialized palliative care

“…Secondly the panel of experts for the NGT includes physicians only and therefore it lacks the vision of the other figures involved in the implementation of the PCRS (nurses, care managers, psychologists). We recognise the role and importance of all health professionals in PC, as amply documented in the literature and in the clinical trials that include nurse lead models [3,[41][42][43][44]; however our choice to involve oncologists and PC physicians reflects our center clinical practice and the fact that oncologists are accountable for the referral to the PC outpatients service.…”

Engagement, Advance Care Planning, and Hospice Use in a Telephonic Nurse-Led Palliative Care Program for Persons Living with Advanced Cancer

“…Nurses can augment traditional specialist palliative care using one of several existing palliative care delivery models. For instance, support lines staffed by oncology nurses who respond to calls for concerning symptoms, changes in clinical status, and medication management have demonstrated improvement in symptom severity, but have not shown reductions in health care use [ 6 , 7 ]. Pre-scheduled, nurse-initiated calls for patients receiving chemotherapy have also demonstrated improvements in symptom management [ 8 ].…”