The Role of Electronic Feedback Loops in the Continuous Quality Improvement of Thyroid Nodule and Thyroid Cancer Care

Urken, Mark L.; Randolph, Gregory W.; Orloff, Lisa A.; Wenig, Bruce M.; Machado, Rosalie; Osorio, Marcela; Griffin, Martha J; Tuttle, R. Michael

doi:10.4158/ep161739.co

Cited by 2 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 2 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

Section: Communication Between Physiciansmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The TCC has an established feedback loop system that aids in self-monitored modification and fine-tuning of diagnostic and therapeutic interventions [4]. By enhancing communication of physicians involved in a patient's care, all the care team members can remain informed regarding the health status and the clinical course of their shared thyroid cancer patient.…”

Section: Electronic Feedback Loopsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Automated emails are sent to the approved members of the care team each time the patient undergoes a new treatment, encounter or diagnostic work up. In a recent clinical commentary, Urken et al describes a clinical vignette in which a surgical pathologist identifies a discrepancy between the final diagnosis post-thyroidectomy and the initial interpretation of the disease by a cytopathologist [4]. The surgical pathologist utilizes the TCC to seamlessly notify the original cytopathologist, encouraging the review of the initial interpretation.…”

Section: Electronic Feedback Loopsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The TCC has an established feedback loop system that aids [4] through a notification system. Automated emails are sent to the approved members of the care team each time the patient undergoes a new treatment, encounter or diagnostic work up.…”

Section: Electronic Feedback Loopsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This innovative approach puts the patient at the center, and allows physicians in the care team to communicate regardless of hospital affiliation. By doing so, the phenomenon of 'clinical silos' or disjointed communication of relevant health information between clinicians is eliminated [4].Additionally, the collaborative nature of this relational database promotes the active follow-up of patients [5]. In particular, since thyroid cancer patients are at risk of developing recurrent disease, decades after their initial care is rendered, it is imperative that they be followed for life [6].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Thyroid Care Collaborative: An Electronic Health Record Facilitating Multidisciplinary Management of Thyroid Cancer

Kiplagat

Griffin

Baik

et al. 2018

Int. J. Endo. Oncol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

" As a patient-based, disease-specific EHR, the TCC connects all physicians involved in a patient's care by giving them direct access to the most up-to-date records, once the patient invites them to participate in the TCC. This innovative approach puts the patient at the center, and allows physicians in the care team to communicate regardless of hospital affiliation. " In the 1990s, the concept of the electronic health record (EHR) was established to support, maintain and improve the quality of our healthcare system [1]. Since its advent, the content, structure and technology of an EHR has evolved over time, however, the goals of the EHR have remained relatively steadfast [1]. EHRs aim to improve quality of care by increasing the accessibility and comprehensiveness of health information, providing portability of health records, enhancing connectivity between physicians involved in the care of a patient, encouraging patient engagement and facilitating multidisciplinary care management. However, EHRs may serve a variety of purposes aside from patient care, such as achieving certain levels of documentation to support levels of billing for encounters. The latter often leads to the entry of endless details that are not truly relevant to a patient's disease, making it difficult and cumbersome to decipher the specific information required to provide quality care. Specialization of web-based health-record systems have led to disease-specific databases, such as the Thyroid Care Collaborative (TCC), formerly known as the Thyroid Cancer Care Collaborative. The TCC is a thyroidspecific database that can be easily integrated into the physician workflow to improve the quality of care delivered to patients with thyroid nodules and thyroid cancer. Web-based disease-specific electronic records, such as the TCC, are dynamic and can be readily modified as new information becomes available. The following examples demonstrate the importance of this feature: the ability to add new data points such as genetic mutations that are found to influence disease virulence and patient outcomes, such as the TERT mutation; and the ability to change disease staging based on AJCC modifications or refinement of the American Thyroid Association's risk of recurrence stratification [2,3]. As new disease-specific information becomes available, the web-based EHR can evolve accordingly. The successful treatment and surveillance of thyroid cancer does not start and end with one surgeon or one endocrinologist, but rather most patients are treated in a collaborative and multidisciplinary fashion. Often those providers involved in the care of a particular patient are not in the same institution and commonly do not use the same EHR. In this paper, we will review how the TCC improves the multidisciplinary management of thyroid cancer by: enhancing communication between physicians; providing a platform for active surveillance in patients with low-risk thyroid cancers; establishing electronic feedback loops that inform the providers as to the results of further ...

show abstract

Section: Communication Between Physiciansmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Electronic Feedback Loopsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Electronic Feedback Loopsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Electronic Feedback Loopsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations