- The hospitals of the Ribera group are implementing this figure, which facilitates continuous care both in person and by telephone for cancer patients
- They resolve 95% of queries about side effects of chemotherapy, food and administrative procedures by phone, avoiding unnecessary trips to the hospital. But they insist on the importance of going to check-ups, diagnostic tests and keeping treatments under medical supervision.
Since last March, the activity of the Nursing staff, cancer case managers in the Ribera health group, has seen how their activity has increased by 30% compared to the same period of the previous year. "A total of 1.966 patients have contacted to resolve health concerns, treatments, management of adverse effects or administrative concerns," explains Ana María Navarro, oncology case manager nurse.
When a patient hears the word cancer, many questions, anxiety, expectations and fears appear, even more so in times of a pandemic like the ones we are living through. For this reason, the group Ribera incorporated in 2018 in the university hospitals of Torrevieja y Vinalopo the figure of the case manager nurse in the Oncology Service, with the aim of offering closer and more personalized attention, facilitating the resolution of doubts to the patient and becoming the link between them and the rest of the professionals of all the specialties involved in each case, participating and collaborating in the coordination and management of therapeutic plans. This figure, which Nursing leads in each center, has also recently been implemented at the University Hospital of Torrejon and in the Ribera hospital Povisa from Vigo.
Nursing professionals, oncology case managers, coordinate and guarantee the continuity of care for these patients even when they are at home and this represents an improvement in care, since it is constant and individualized. Any query about the side effects of chemotherapy, radiotherapy, diet or physical exercise during treatment, pre-operatively, recovery after an intervention or symptoms not identified a priori by the patient can be consulted with your nurse. /a manager who, in most cases, helps resolve these concerns over the phone or in the office, avoiding travel to another service, even to the hospital if the patient is at home. It also provides advice and help with any bureaucratic procedure with which the patient encounters an obstacle.
In more than 90% of cases, patients find an answer to the reason for the pain they feel, nausea, vomiting or dyspnea in the case manager nurse. “Many times it is perceived how the patient or the family member who calls when hearing a voice on the other end of the telephone line that understands them and gives them solutions immediately relaxes”, she explains.
On the importance of controls
And it is that, more than 95% of the consultations of cancer patients are resolved through this figure avoiding unnecessary displacements, even more so at the current epidemiological moment and in immunocompromised patients. "During the state of alarm, we saw the need to extend the call center's opening hours, keeping it active for 12 uninterrupted hours to answer questions and reassure patients undergoing treatment," says the nurse.
Despite the peace of mind that being able to resolve their concerns over the phone gives these patients, the Oncology professionals of the Ribera group insist on the need for patients to attend their check-ups, to the scheduled diagnostic and control tests and to keep the treatments under control. medical supervision.
Regarding this, Dr. Carlos Romero, head of the Oncology Service of the Ribera Povisa Hospital, has warned about several reports that at the national level alert "health impact of the coronavirus in hospital care for oncohematological patients" since they indicate that the number of "new patients", those in whom a malignant tumor has been detected, decreased during the confinement 21%; the number of patients treated with chemotherapy since March has decreased by 9,5% and 5% in regards to Radiotherapy. Ensures that they are data endorsed by the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC), which publishes a complete report on the matter on its website.
In addition, Dr. Romero has assured that cancer patients regularly ask about the vaccine. "The Spanish Society of Medical Oncology has issued a position note, underlining the need for cancer patients to be vaccinated no matter what," he added.
