Understanding information in lung cancer leads to fewer and shorter hospital visits

At the Pulmonary Diseases Outpatient Clinic, patients are seen in the diagnostic phase, during treatment and follow-up of lung cancer. In this process, the patient undergoes several examinations before the treatment plan is determined.

Information for these tests and treatment is provided at the MCL Pulmonary Diseases outpatient clinic through Divis. After patients and their loved ones view this pictorial information at home, they can ask targeted questions to the healthcare provider.

Informing in the preoperative pathway

'The preoperative pathway related to surgery for lung cancer has changed after the introduction of the use of Divis,' says Nynke Brandsma, nursing consultant lung oncology. The patient used to have appointments with the surgeon, nursing consultant, anesthesiologist and the medication consultation hour. This meant a half day full of appointments, information, letters and leaflets. 

In the new procedure, the patient is sent the relevant Divis digitally as soon as the date of the surgery is known. A few days later, there is a telephone appointment with the nursing consultant. During this appointment there is room for specific questions from patients and their loved ones. After the telephone appointment, the patient will have appointments with the anesthesiologist, surgeon and medication consultation.

Education systemic therapy

When providing information about systemic therapies such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy and targeted therapy, the patient was overloaded - before the start of treatment - with textual information. Especially with combined treatments, the amount of information was difficult to oversee. With Indiveo, this information can be offered in doses. Therefore, Nynke and her colleagues Mascha and Danielle are also going to adapt this course.

The patient receives the visual Divis as soon as the treatment plan is discussed in the outcome interview. At a later time, the intake interview about the systemic therapy follows. Because the patient has already viewed the Divis at home, this conversation is more interactive and equal. In fact, patients already understand what to expect.

The added value of Indiveo

For the MCL pulmonary oncology department and their patients, the use of Indiveo has great added value. Patients are informed in an unambiguous and complete way with dosed information, which makes the process easier to oversee and understand. Patients can review this information repeatedly at home, alone or with loved ones. They are thus better prepared for the conversation with the doctor or nursing consultant.

This has allowed caregivers to rely on the understandable information in the Divis and spend less time explaining standard procedures. This creates more space for more personal topics such as emotions, the home situation and nutrition, for example.

More understanding, less frequent visits to hospital

The consultation hour for the preoperative course is reduced from 30 minutes in the outpatient clinic to 10 minutes by phone, and the intake interview before starting systemic therapy becomes 30 minutes instead of 40 minutes. Because the patient better understands the treatment, he or she can come to the right choice together with the doctor.