Advancing Patient-Centered Cancer Care Through Education to #CloseTheCareGap
February 2, 2024 | Education, Patient-centricity, World Cancer Day, oncology
One of the next frontiers in oncology isn’t being explored in a lab. Instead, it’s advancing in hospitals and private clinics around the world, thanks to the hard work of physicians and care teams in academic and community settings. It’s a new focus on patient-centricity in oncology care, which represents a shift from treating only the disease to instead treating the individual person with the disease.
Patient-centricity is being embraced by the oncology community. In 2023, the presidential address of the American Society of Clinical Oncologists served as a call to action, addressing how patient-centricity can transform care, leading to better outcomes.
Patient-centricity asks the oncology care team to think of several key points that can sometimes get minimized due to the challenges of practice. The importance of the relationship between the patient, including their caregivers, and the oncology care team is paramount — for patients with serious illness, being able to trust and collaborate with their care team, rather than having treatment and communication flow in only one direction, is vital. The care team needs to keep in mind at all times that their patients are facing challenges that often go beyond the physical burden of the disease. These can include relationship challenges, financial concerns, and social determinants of health, which can impact their access to care, and all of which need to be addressed for the best outcomes. And finally, the care team should remember that every patient will react to these challenges differently, even if their situations seem similar on the surface.
Patient-centricity also applies to two of World Cancer Day’s calls to action: (1) enhancing health literacy and education around cancer using culturally appropriate materials and training for healthcare professionals (HCPs) on effective patient communication, and (2) fostering patient-centered care that acknowledges the unique needs of every population, encouraging patient engagement in their care decisions. Both fall under patient-centricity and are aspects of care Medscape provides education on.
Education Plays an Essential Role
Education will play a key role in advancing patient-centricity among clinicians. Like any part of medicine, skills like patient-clinician communication can be built over time to make their integration in practice seamless.
To do this, two pillars should be added to the current structure of continuing medical education. These pillars, that of the patient voice and that of communication, will improve care by helping to build trust among patients/caregivers and their care team, and setting a strong foundation for patients to become active advocates in their care, which ultimately lead to better outcomes. Medscape works with patient advocates, along with experts in clinician-patient communications, to ensure that programs are impactful for learners.
“We are committed to integrating patient voices into our education for HCPs from planning to execution, thereby providing patients with a seat at the table to help shape our activities and be involved in the most appropriate way to further optimize outcomes.” says Dr Victoria Harvey-Jones, Associate Director, Clinical Strategy Oncology, who is leading the patient-centricity and integration initiative at Medscape.
Patient-centric education can be incorporated alongside current disease-focused and treatment-centric programs to create a holistic, all-encompassing approach that empowers both patients and clinicians.
The Impact of Patient-Centric Education
Medscape is leading the way in providing education that can help clinicians take a patient-centric approach to the care they provide to people living with cancer. Since March of 2023, Medscape has launched 16 activities that utilize a holistic approach and integrate patient-centricity, reaching more than 10,900 hematology and oncology physician specialists and over 42,000 members of the oncology care team across Europe, Asia, and MENA. This led to 146,500+ patient visits being impacted on a monthly basis.
“Integrating patient perspectives and effective communication into HCP education, alongside disease- and treatment-centric education, powers an informed, knowledgeable, and effective conversation between the HCP and the patient/caregiver. This builds trust and ultimately empowers patients to have an active role in their journey with cancer,” says Dr Victoria Harvey-Jones.
Of these learners, the overwhelming majority agreed that the education had a strong impact on their practice, with 93% planning to make practice changes and 92% saying it promotes improvement in patient outcomes.
Importantly, implementing a holistic approach to education resulted in significant improvements in knowledge, competence, and performance among physicians. Double-digit increases were seen across all measured disease-, treatment- and patient-centric themes – for example, knowledge of disease awareness and clinical data; competence in personalizing treatment and providing supportive care; and knowledge of implementing shared decision-making and strategies that facilitate communication with patients.
Building knowledge, competence, and performance of physicians is more likely to increase their confidence and translate to a positive impact in the clinic. Increasing confidence is linked to driving practice change, and it was encouraging to see that physician confidence also increased with regard to key themes such as personalizing treatment, integrating patient perspectives into treatment-decision making, and effective communication with patients. Collectively, these results demonstrate the power of a holistic approach to education, which integrates the patient voice, in having a positive impact on patient-centered care.
Medscape’s commitment to delivering impact for patients lies at the core of its new next-generation return-on-education guarantees. These guarantees ensure reach, precision, and impact, optimizing program efficacy through reaching HCPs at the time they are most poised to learn and impact patient care. This approach aims to drive meaningful changes in behavior and clinical practice, ultimately contributing to the advancement of patient outcomes.
What Clinicians Say They’ve Learned
Clinicians who participated in the education took away several key learnings. In comments gathered after an activity, clinicians say they learned to look for new methods of communication with patients and their families, and to understand how patients learn best and encourage them to use additional resources. The need to improve communication was also highlighted.
As cancer-care continues to evolve, one thing will continue to be true: incorporating patient-centricity into practice is key at every stage of diagnosis and treatment, treating the person and not just the disease that they have. What’s also true is that Medscape will continue to provide the impactful education clinicians need to take a more patient-centered and holistic approach to care, and continue making a positive difference to each life of the individual person living with cancer for whom we all serve.
For more information on patient-centricity in oncology education, contact Victoria Harvey-Jones, who is leading the patient-centricity and integration initiative at Medscape, at vharveyjones@medscape.net.
Read our full white paper on patient-centricity in oncology care.
About Medscape Education
Medscape Education (medscape.org) is the leading destination for continuous professional development, consisting of more than 30 specialty-focused destinations offering thousands of free CME and CE courses for physicians, nurses, and other healthcare professionals.
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