Impacting Patient Outcomes Sign up for email alerts | Contact Us
Further Collaboration with Physicians
Among CAP members, 34% currently collaborate with other physicians by providing them advice on patient treatment options and another 14% are likely or very likely to do so in the next 3 to 5 years. Yet, the Ogilvy survey and Grail stakeholder interviews indicate that other physicians do not always broadly recognize our collaborative efforts. We need to continue our efforts and be visible partners and collaborators.
To deepen your relationships and increase your clinical relevance to physician colleagues, you can:
- Participate in Tumor Boards
- Reach out to physician colleagues to let them know how to reach you
- Add names and contact numbers to reports
- Join or start collaborative work groups at your hospital to develop or refine clinical protocols
- Do rounds at the hospital
- Attend and organize grand rounds
- Begin a dialogue with physician colleagues to determine how and when it might make sense for you to collaborate more closely with them or their patients
- Consider how you might apply your knowledge and analytical skills to enhance patient outcomes that correlate strongly to pay-for-performance incentives, core measures of other key indicators
- Take CMEs in other clinical areas related to the work you do (For example, complete CMEs in GI, GYN, oncology or dermatology based upon the focus of your pathology practice) Examine your current practice and consider the possibility of change. Look for growth opportunities related to managing chronic conditions, improving patient outcomes and service utilization, personalized medicine, digital pathology
Closer Connections to Patient
When it comes to direct patient interaction, we have a small but significant base to build upon.
- 30% of Members advise patients directly on implications of their test results and another 16% are likely or very likely to do so in the next 3 to 5 years.
- 12% advise patients on their treatment options and another 10% are likely or very likely to do so in the next 3 to 5 years
If you are seeking ways to improve visibility and value with patients, start here.
- Consider offering consultation services directly to patients for particularly complex diagnostic findings or cases
- Promote the use of MyBiopsy.org as a resource to patients
- Alert physician colleagues to the availability of this patient-focused website, designed as a 24/7 resource to help people better understand biopsy results
- Reach out to your local American Cancer Society chapter or other patient advocacy group. Tell them about MyBiopsy.org. Let them know you are available to attend a patient support group meeting or speak at an upcoming program
- Make sure your hospital website includes a link to MyBiopsy.org.
- Connect with the marketing department of your hospital. Share information about the role and value of the pathologist as part of a patient care team. Suggest a story in an upcoming consumer newsletter. Find the best places to share this information on the hospital website.
- Do rounds
- Make yourself available to patients for consultation
Resources:
-
The Patient: Patient-Centered Outcomes Research
The Patient is the only journal that aims exclusively to examine the needs, values and role of the patient in an increasingly complex healthcare landscape in which funding and decision making are requiring ever-greater awareness of the patient’s perspective. - Turning Doctors into Leaders
Article on trends and needs in health care delivery that encourages integrated care and a patient-centric approach - The Center for Evidence-Based Medicine
Presentations, workshops, studies, and other resources for evidence based medicine from the CEBM at Oxford University. - What Practices Will Most Improve Safety?
Report on how evidence-based medicine can limit human errors and improve patient safety - Introduction to Evidence-Based Practice
A self-paced tutorial on the principles and processes, designed for health care practitioners and students. From the Duke University Medical Center.
TAKE ACTION
CAP members tell us they want concrete ideas and resources they can use today to prepare for tomorrow. You’ll find them here.
Like CAP members, these ideas and resources span the spectrum and encompass many different facets of pathology transformation. They include easy-to-implement first steps as well as sweeping new opportunities you can use to take your practice in new directions.
