The development of a Patients Concerns Inventory (PCI) to help reveal patients concerns in the head and neck clinic

• Published in: Oral oncology Vol. 45; no. 7; pp. 555 - 561
• Main Authors: Rogers, S.N, El-Sheikha, J, Lowe, D
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01-07-2009; Elsevier
• Subjects: Aged; Ambulatory Care Facilities; Biological and medical sciences; Check list; Emotions; Family; Feasibility Studies; Female; Head and neck cancer; Head and Neck Neoplasms - psychology; Head and Neck Neoplasms - therapy; Health-related quality of life; Hearing; Hematology, Oncology and Palliative Medicine; Humans; Interpersonal Relations; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Oral cancer; Otolaryngology; Otorhinolaryngology (head neck, general aspects and miscellaneous); Otorhinolaryngology. Stomatology; Patient reported outcomes; Patient Satisfaction; Pilot Projects; Quality of Life; Questionnaires; Surgery; Surveys and Questionnaires; Tumors; Upper respiratory tract, upper alimentary tract, paranasal sinuses, salivary glands: diseases, semeiology; UW-QOL; Wound Healing; Health-related quality of life; Oral cancer; Surgery; Patient reported outcomes; Check list; Questionnaires; UW-QOL; Head and neck cancer; Quality of life; Human; Prognosis; Questionnaire; Health; Stomatology; ENT; Malignant tumor; Cancerology; Treatment; Head and neck; ENT disease; Oral cavity disease; List; Cancer
• ISSN: 1368-8375; 1879-0593
• DOI: 10.1016/j.oraloncology.2008.09.004

Summary The purpose of the Patients Concerns Inventory (PCI) is to identify the concerns that patients would like to discuss during their consultation. The PCI covers a range of issues including hearing, intimacy, fatigue, financial/benefits, PEG tube, relationships, regret, support for family, and wound healing. It also lists MDT members that patients would like to see or be referred on to. The PCI is completed using a touch-screen computer (TST) immediately before consultation. Responses are networked into the consultation room. A 28 weeks pilot for one consultant ran from August 2007 with 123 (of maximum 150) patients. The median time to complete the TST was 8 min. Patients most frequently selected fear of recurrence (37%), dental health/teeth (27%), chewing (24%), pain in head/neck (20%), fatigue/tiredness (19%), saliva (18%) and swallowing (18%). The two MDT members they wished to see were dentist (19%) and speech/language therapist (10%). The vast majority felt the PCI made a difference (quite a bit/very much) to their consultation as it made it ‘a bit more personal’, ‘reminds them of the points they want discussed’, ‘allows the consultation to get straight to the point’. Although the PCI can raise many issues it did not noticeably prolong the consultation (median 8 min with PCI, 7 min without PCI). The Patients Concerns Inventory (PCI) helps focus the consultation onto patient needs and promotes multidisciplinary care. Following this very successful pilot the PCI is being rolled out to other consultants in the H & N clinic.