Bridging the Gap
Cancer Information Service Users increasingly consist of Healthcare Professionals (HCP) in Malaysia
The National Cancer Society of Malaysia (NCSM) set up our Cancer Information Service (CIS) in April 2016. The NCSM CIS is run by full-time trained nursing personnel, who field and answer queries on all aspects of the cancer treatment journey; with the ability to provide bridging to other required services, either in-house at NCSM where available; or externally to other organisations.
NCSM offers a host of cancer control related services which are largely subsidised or free to underprivileged groups. These include cancer screening services, general counselling, nutrition and dietary consultation, support group services and wellness activities for cancer survivors.
Following the launch of the CIS , the team promoted the service through multiple avenues including through the media, promotional visits to oncology-related service providers in the public , promotional activities at NCSM-led or other cancer-related events and through periodic social media campaigns.
In the initial years, callers consisted primarily of survivors, family members and friends. However a cross-sectional study conducted on the CIS database to profile user characteristics and determine resolution status of calls being made revealed something very different. Slightly more than half (53.9%) of the callers to the CIS between January 1 to December 31 2017 were healthcare professionals (HCPs).
These healthcare professionals included hospital clinicians, primary care doctors and allied health personnel such as nurses and physiotherapists. Of the 1488 calls analysed in the study that fit the inclusion criteria, queries centred around i) screening services available at NCSM (40.5%), ii) non-clinical management of cancer especially in the management of patients’ activities of daily living (13.3%), cancer patient related psychological issues (8.6%), setting of appointments of patients for utilisation of NCSM services (8.3%), and queries on treatment options and surgical care for differing cancers (7.2%).
From the logistic regression model carried out to analyse the findings, it was determined that queries on the following categories were significantly associated with the likelihood of being resolved: i)queries on treatment options and surgical care (OR 2.91; 95%CI 1.15-7.38), ii) queries on diet and nutrition (OR 8.29; 95%CI 3.10-22.14), iii)queries financial issues (OR 6.35; 95%CI 2.49-16.31); and iv)queries on cancer prevention strategies (OR 3.11; 95% CI 1.21-7.96)
The CIS initially was less well-received by healthcare professionals during its early launch period in 2016, and thus not as well promoted, as they were uncertain of the ability of the system to provide accurate information. Over time, this study shows that this perception may have shifted, with increasingly more healthcare professionals utilising the system and/or services available at NCSM, as seen from the fact that the largest number of queries arising from HCPs about making appointments for NCSM services.
From the study data, some of the learnings from us in NCSM from the study was this:
- i) Providing consistent, accurate information service on all aspects of cancer control over time will manage to convince healthcare professionals about the validity and capability of an information provision system
- ii) The CIS functions as not merely an information service but also a bridging service; connecting enquirers to services needed. Through this way, its functions are multi-dimensional, and even plays the role of a virtual one-stop centre for patients and even HCPs.
Data from this study was presented at the 9th International Graduate Students Conference on Population and Public Health Sciences at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok Thailand on 24th July 2018.
Contact details for further questions: muralli@cancer.org.my