The oncology patient pathway includes a series of steps that a cancer patient goes through: from diagnosis to treatment and beyond. It considers all aspects of care including diagnoses, treatment planning, care delivery, follow-up care, and end-of-life care. The cancer patient journey is ideally designed to provide comprehensive and coordinated care for cancer patients and to ensure that patients receive the right care at the right time and at the right place. This journey usually involves a multidisciplinary team of healthcare professionals including oncologists, surgeons, radiologists, nurses and other specialists, who work together to provide the best possible outcomes for patients. The patient’s journey is largely determined by the type of oncological disease and its stage.
Patient journey analysis can help:
· Improve outcomes and patient experience by identifying and resolving bottlenecks or inefficiencies in the care process
· Ensure the provision of high-quality, safe and cost-effective care
· Monitor patient flow and resource utilization to optimize resource allocation and reduce waste
· Facilitate continuous improvement of the health care system by identifying areas for improvement and implementing best practices
· Improve communication and collaboration between healthcare providers to ensure seamless and coordinated care
· Promote patient-centered care by taking patients’ needs and preferences into account in the care delivery process
· Reduce the risk of medical errors and adverse events
Path in indicators of the quality of care provided
It is possible to send the patient’s journey not only qualitatively. Our goal is to create a set of indicators for the purpose of securing national and regional management processes in the care of oncological patients, which can be defined as:
· Structural indicators (competence, available equipment, patient turnover)
· Process indicators (activities in the patient journey process, e.g. diagnosis, treatment)
· Performance indicators (survival, recovery, patient and user satisfaction, etc.)