Impact of computerized quality of life screening on physician behaviour and patient satisfaction in lung cancer outpatients

The purpose of this paper was to determine if providing patient specific Qu ality of Life (QL) information to clinic staff before a clinic appointment improved patient care in a lung cancer outpatient clinic. Patients were seq uentially assigned to either a usual care control group or the experimental group, which completed a computerized version of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) QLQ-C30 questionnaire in orde r to provide the clinic staff with QL information prior to the clinic appoi ntment. The control group completed the EORTC QLQ-C30 paper version after t he clinic appointment. Outcome measures were patient satisfaction, the degr ee to which issues identified on the QL questionnaire were addressed in the appointment, and a chart audit, which measured charting of QL issues and a ctions taken by the clincian relating to QL. In the experimental group, mor e QL issues identified by the patient on the EORTC QLQ-C30 were addressed d uring the clinic appointment than in the control group. As well, marginally more categories were charted and a trend towards more actions being taken was seen in the experimental group. Patients reported being equally and hig hly satisfied with the treatment in both groups. The clinical implication i s that the computerized administration of the EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire a nd providing staff with a report highlighting patient-specific QL deficits is a simple, time-effective and acceptable means of improving patient-provi der communication in a busy outpatient clinic. Large trials studying its ef fectiveness in different patient populations and regions would further eluc idate the nature of this effect and potentially improve the overall quality of care that patients receive. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.