How Patient-Centered is Education and Counselling of Patients on Oral Anticancer Therapy?: Presenter(s): Ilyse Kenis, KU Leuven, Belgium

As an adequate level of patient self-management is essential for a successful oral anticancer therapy, assessment of patient-centered education and counselling for patients on oral anticancer drugs (OACD) is needed in order to improve care quality. This study examined which elements of patient-centered education and counselling are currently being performed adequately, and which areas require improvement. Patients from 11 Belgian hospitals completed the CONTACT-Patient-Centered Care Questionnaire (CONTACT-PCCQ). This Patient Reported Experience Measure (PREM) consists of 81 items, which all represent a key element (KE) in patient-centered education and counselling for patients on OACD. Patients were asked to indicate how they experienced the performance of each KE on a Likert rating scale. The degree of performance for each KE was defined by calculating the proportion of patients who indicated that the item was performed ‘Sufficiently’ or ‘Definitely’. In total, 266 patients completed the CONTACT-PCCQ. The degree of performance of all items ranged from 22% to 95%, with 16 KEs having a degree of performance below 50%. The item regarding information about vaccines had the lowest score. Few other items regarding specific topics in patient education (e.g. what to do in case of vomiting, what is allowed to eat or drink during treatment) also showed low scores. Last, the items about the involvement of the community pharmacist and homecare nurse scored below 50% - in contrast to the items regarding involvement of general practitioners. In general, KEs on communication style (e.g. HCPs left enough opportunity to ask questions, HCPs took sufficient time for a proper conversation) received high scores. This study uncovered specific gaps in patient-centered education and counselling, e.g. lack of interprofessional communication and collaboration with primary care. These results can help HCPs and policy makers to set priorities in quality improvement and devise effective improvement strategies.