Implementing web-based ping-pong-type e-communication to enhance staff satisfaction, multidisciplinary cooperation, and clinical effectiveness: A SQUIRE-compliant quality-improving study

Frequent multidisciplinary communication is essential in conducting daily radiotherapy (RT) practice. However, traditional oral or paper-based communication has limitations. E-communication has been suggested, but its effects are still not well demarcated in the field of radiation oncology. In our w...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Medicine (Baltimore) 2016-11, Vol.95 (44), p.e5236
Main Authors: Yeh, Pei-Han, Hung, Shih-Kai, Lee, Moon-Sing, Chiou, Wen-Yen, Lai, Chun-Liang, Tsai, Wei-Ta, Hsieh, Hui-Ling, Shih, Yi-Ting, Chen, Liang-Cheng, Huang, Li-Wen, Lin, Yi-An, Lin, Po-Hao, Lin, Yung-Hsiang, Liu, Dai-Wei, Hsu, Feng-Chun, Tsai, Shiang-Jiun, Liu, Jia-Chi, Chung, En-Seu, Lin, Hon-Yi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Communication
Humans
Internet
Job Satisfaction
Patient Care Team
Quality Improvement
Quality Improvement Study
Radiation Oncology - methods
Radiation Oncology - standards
Retrospective Studies
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Frequent multidisciplinary communication is essential in conducting daily radiotherapy (RT) practice. However, traditional oral or paper-based communication has limitations. E-communication has been suggested, but its effects are still not well demarcated in the field of radiation oncology. In our web-based integrated information platform, we constructed a ping-pong-type e-communication function to transfer specific notations among multidisciplinary RT staffs. The purpose was to test whether applying this e-communication can increase effectiveness of multidisciplinary cooperation when compared with oral or paper-based practice. Staff satisfaction and clinical benefits were also demonstrated. A real-world quality-improving study was conducted in a large center of radiation oncology. Before and after applying multidisciplinary e-communication (from 2014 to 2015), clinical RT staffs were surveyed for their user experience and satisfaction (n = 23). For measuring clinical effectiveness, a secondary database of irradiated head and neck cancer patients was re-analyzed for comparing RT toxicities (n = 402). Applying ping-pong-type multidisciplinary reflective e-communication was the main intervention. For measuring staff satisfaction, eight domains were surveyed, such as timeliness, convenience, and completeness. For measuring clinical effectiveness of multidisciplinary cooperation, event rates of severe (i.e., grade 3-4) RT mucositis and dermatitis were recorded. Overall, when compared with oral communication only, e-communication demonstrated multiple benefits, particularly on notation-review convenience (2.00 ± 1.76 vs 9.19 ± 0.81; P 
ISSN:0025-7974
1536-5964
DOI:10.1097/MD.0000000000005236