Abstract P6-14-06: A patient-centered approach to education: Evaluating and improving radiation treatment education in breast cancer patients
Authors: Ladbury CJ , Ridings JW , Yancy D 
Published: May 2019

Introduction

Breast cancer patients rapidly receive large amounts of information from multiple practitioners during treatment. It is therefore essential that education be presented in an appropriate manner to promote satisfaction and retention of important facts regarding treatment. Educational materials at the Memorial Radiation Oncology Department have not been evaluated by patients, and it is unclear how effectively and efficiently they express information. We hypothesized that satisfaction was already very good, but patients lacked knowledge of key aspects of their radiation treatment. This quality improvement project aimed to achieve a patient comprehension of key treatment-related concepts of 75% by March 2018 via evaluating and improving educational materials.

Methods

A survey was designed to evaluate patient satisfaction with and comprehension of educational materials. The survey inquired about satisfaction with several specific aspects of their education and tested understanding of concepts that impact treatment. The survey was administered to all breast cancer patients over a three-month period. Those results were used for a PDSA cycle to implement improvements. These improvements included eliminating redundant resources, reemphasizing essential concepts throughout treatment, and consolidating important concepts from the materials into a more accessible one-page summary sheet. Following those changes, the surveys was adapted and administered to every breast cancer patient over another three-month period, which were analyzed to evaluate the effectiveness of and satisfaction with the interventions. Statistical comparisons were performed using Student's t-test and Fisher's exact test.

Results

Following the interventions, overall satisfaction improved from 97% to 100% (p=1.0). However, 27% and 18% of patients still did not remember receiving an informational letter and physician handout, respectively. On knowledge based questions, average percent correct improved from 52% to 78% (p=&lt;0.001). However, there were areas where comprehension declined following the interventions. Select results of individual survey items are shown below in Table 1:

Table 1:

Outcomes of Educational InterventionsCategoryInitial Result (%) (n=31)Final Result (%) (n=26)Change (%)p-valueRemembered getting pre-treatment letter7465-90.566Remembered getting post-consult physician handout9488-60.651Watched emailed informational video14N/AN/AN/ACorrectly reported recurrence risk reduction associated with radiation treatment3016-140.341Correctly identified timing of peak skin reaction4788+410.002Correctly identified contraindication of antioxidant use during radiation treatment2964+350.015

Conclusions

A patient-centered approach to developing and delivering patient education can lead to better satisfaction and patient comprehension, thereby improving compliance and encouraging patient engagement, which has a positive impact on outcomes. Although some education remained unmemorable or improperly emphasized following the interventions, overall trends in comprehension validate tailoring educational materials to patient feedback. In the future, the PDSA cycles will be continued with a focus on addressing persistent educational deficits and identifying further avenues to improve patient retention.

Citation Format: Ladbury CJ, Ridings JW, Yancy D. A patient-centered approach to education: Evaluating and improving radiation treatment education in breast cancer patients [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2018 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2018 Dec 4-8; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P6-14-06.