Patients’ Satisfaction by SmileInTM Totems in Radiotherapy: A Two-Year Mono-Institutional Experience

Abstract

Background: Patient’s satisfaction is recognized as an indicator to monitor quality in healthcare services. Patient-reported experience measures (PREMs) may contribute to create a benchmark of hospital performance by assessing quality and safety in cancer care. Methods: The areas of interest assessed were: patient-centric welcome perception (PCWP), punctuality, professionalism and comfort using the Lean Six Sigma (LSS) methodology. The RAMSI (Radioterapia Amica Mia SmileINTM (SI) My Friend RadiotherapySI), project provided for the placement of SI totems with four push buttons using HappyOrNot technology in a high-volume radiation oncology (RO) department. The SI technology was implemented in the RO department of the Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS. SI totems were installed in different areas of the department. The SI Experience Index was collected, analyzed and compared. Weekly and monthly reports were created showing hourly, daily and overall trends. Results: From October 2017 to November 2019, a total of 42,755 votes were recorded: 8687, 10,431, 18,628 and 5009 feedback items were obtained for PCWP, professionalism, punctuality, and comfort, respectively. All areas obtained a SI-approved rate ≥ 8.0 Conclusions: The implementation of the RAMSI system proved to be doable according to the large amount of feedback items collected in a high-volume clinical department. The application of the LSS methodology led to specific corrective actions such as modification of the call-in-clinic system during operations planning. In order to provide healthcare optimization, a multicentric and multispecialty network should be defined in order to set up a benchmark.

Smile InTM Totems in Radiotherapy: Patients’ Satisfaction with Limited Equipment and COVID-19

“…Our data collected among cancer patients appear to be successful and comparable with the results reported by a high-volume and high-tech clinical radiotherapy department with adequate technological equipment as published by Chiloiro and coworkers [ 16 ]. In the Chieti experience, high levels of satisfaction have been reported in relation to the professional skills, staff attitudes and department comfort despite a limited number of patients compared with the experience of Chiloiro and coworkers [ 16 ]due to the only linear accelerator available for a long time.…”

“…For these reasons, activating a customer satisfaction tool for patients in a radiation oncology department can allow for evaluating the quality of daily work performed and how to improve its processes [ 16 , 17 ].…”

“…In this scenario, the radiation oncology center of Chieti has joined with the RAMSI (Radiotherapy Amica Mia—SmileIN TM (SI) —My Friend Radiotherapy SI) project, carried out to allow for the collection and analysis of patient feedback in the form of real-time self-reported experience [ 16 ].…”

Art and digital technologies to support resilience during the oncological journey: The Art4ART project

“…Progressively, care models centered on the single therapeutic act have been oriented towards a patient-centered organization [2] , [3] . As recognized by the World Health Organization, digital health is now emerging in the medical environment for decision-making and helping patients' compliance, contributing to patient empowerment in person-centered care [4] , [5] , [6] . Digital technologies can be a helpful tool to improve cancer patients' treatment compliance and quality of life.…”

“…The personalized approach to the cancer patient and his role as partner in treatment care is not a novelty at our Radiotherapy Department Gemelli ART (Advanced Radiation Therapy). The RAMSI project [6] effectively puts the patient at the center of the therapeutic process as a person in their complexity to preserve their QoL and human dignity during the radiation treatment. RAMSI project aimed to improve the services offered in a division of RT to improve the experience of care.…”