Longitudinal cohort study to determine effectiveness of a novel simulated case and feedback system to improve clinical pathway adherence in breast, lung and GI cancers

OBJECTIVES This study examined whether a measurement and feedback system led to improvements in adherence to clinical pathways. DESIGN The M-QURE (Moffitt-Quality, Understanding, Research and Evidence) Initiative was introduced in 2012 to enhance and improve adherence to pathways at Moffitt Cancer Center (MCC) in three broad clinical areas: breast, lung and gastrointestinal (GI) cancers. M-QURE used simulated patient vignettes based on MCC's Clinical Pathways to benchmark clinician adherence and monitor change over three rounds of implementation. SETTING MCC, located in Tampa, Florida, a National Cancer Institute Comprehensive Cancer Center. PARTICIPANTS Three non-overlapping cohorts at MCC (one each in breast, lung and GI) totalling 48 providers participated in this study, with each member of the multidisciplinary team (composed of medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, surgeons and advanced practice providers) invited to participate. INTERVENTIONS Each participant was asked to complete a set of simulated patient vignettes over three rounds within their own cancer specialty. Participants were required to complete all assigned vignettes over each of the three rounds, or they would be excluded from this study. PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURE Increased domain and overall provider care adherence to clinical pathways, as scored by blinded physician abstractors. RESULTS We found significant improvements in pathway adherence between the third and first rounds of data collection particularly for workup and treatment of cancer cases. By clinical grouping, breast improved by 13.6% (p<0.001), and lung improved by 12.1% (p<0.001) over baseline, whereas GI showed a decrease of 1.4% (p=0.68). CONCLUSIONS Clinical pathway adherence improved in a short timeframe for breast and lung cancers using group-level measurement and individual feedback. This suggests that a measurement and feedback programme may be a useful tool to improve clinical pathway adherence.