Chemotherapy Drug-Specific Education: Putting Information at the Patient's Fingertips

As we continue to better understand the many diseases encompassed under the name, “cancer,” we are also seeing an increase in the number and complexity of anti-cancer treatments. These exciting advances are taking place while cancer programs are striving to empower patients with education about their diagnosis and treatment journey and continually improve the patient experience of care. In this guest blog post, Dr. James Weese, vice president, Aurora Cancer Care, describes his program’s 2017 ACCC Innovator Award winning approach.

The Challenge
Oncologists, nurses, and other cancer care staff across the country work tirelessly to find the best way to deliver a patient’s treatment plan, including the type of chemotherapy treatment recommended and side effects patients may experience. In the aftermath of hearing the words, “You have cancer,” the life-changing ripple effects of that diagnosis can make it challenging for patients and their families to absorb all the details and fully understanding the treatment plan that’s ahead.

At Aurora Cancer Care, we wondered how we could provide better information in a consistent manner to patients across our large geographical area. Information that could be delivered in the office and reviewed in the comfort of the patient’s home. We offer cancer care in 19 communities from the Wisconsin-Illinois border all the way up to Marinette, Wisconsin, and diagnose nearly 8,000 new cases each year.

That’s a lot of people who need to hear consistent messages and in a way that’s convenient for them.

Our team at Aurora Cancer Care set out to address this challenge while creating a more meaningful experience for patients and their families. Under the leadership of Kerry Twite, MSN, RN, a certified oncology clinical nurse specialist with Aurora Cancer Care, a series of more than 125 educational videos were developed to provide a more personalized experience to patients. Four key principles guided the development of the video series:

1. All patients need basic information about chemotherapy prior to treatment.
2. Most drugs today are given in combination with other drugs.
3. Patients want to share educational information with family and friends who may not be able to attend each appointment.
4. Patient education from nursing teams can vary depending on multiple factors, including available time, location, and number of other potential interruptions during the session.

The Video Solution
With these tenets in mind, our team developed more than 125 chemotherapy educational videos featuring Aurora Cancer Care physicians, nurses, and other staff. Each education video a patient receives includes three videos:

• First, a chemotherapy video explains basic principles of chemotherapy, including how it is administered (oral or intravenous), the different types of drugs, and potential side effects and complications.
• Then, a video provides specific information about each drug the patient will receive.
• Finally, a “Cancer SOS” video, details for patients how to manage their care at home and when to call their physician or go to the emergency room.

All the educational videos are housed on a password-protected website. When patients receive their treatment plan, they are emailed a link and password to the specific drug treatment that they will be receiving. Patients can then watch the video before their next appointment in the comfort of their home, and they can also share the video with family and friends who may have questions. Patients can then come to their next appointment with specific follow-up questions. Patients and families can access and watch each video as many times as they wish.

Learn more on our education program in this video.

Results
Patients have shared with our nursing team how helpful they’ve found these videos in preparing themselves (and their families) for the road ahead. More engaged patients mean higher patient satisfaction scores, and we’ve certainly seen that too, though it’s very early in the roll-out of the video series to see a major shift.

Our video series has also allowed nursing staff to focus on other educational tasks during the patient’s appointment while still ensuring consistent educational information for patients is provided throughout the treatment process.

At Aurora Cancer Care, our focus rests solely on the delivering the best care possible to patients throughout our region and helping them fight and overcome the disease. We are honored to be named the recipient of a 2017 ACCC Innovator Award for our patient educational video series, and hope it might inspire other cancer centers to explore similar educational tools for patients.

Learn more about how we developed our video series during our presentation at the ACCC 34^th National Oncology Conference, Oct. 18-20, in Nashville, TN.

James Weese, MD, FACS, is vice president, Aurora Cancer Care, Milwaukee, Wisc.