The Effect of Peer Comparison Emails on Oncologists' Documentation of Cancer Stage

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

56 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2018-07-01

Study Completion Date

2019-09-30

Brief Summary

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Documenting cancer stage is the most important determinant of treatment approach and survival for cancer patients. However, oncologists do not routinely document a patient's cancer stage in the structured field in electronic health records. This quality improvement pilot study evaluated the impact of sending an email to physicians at a cancer center of a large academic hospital with individualized data on their rates of cancer stage documentation using a structured field. The investigators assessed patient-level documentation and physician-level rates of staging documentation over 15 months including a three-month pre-period, a six-month pilot phase and a six-month follow-up period. The investigators also estimated staging documentation rates separately for each physician's new versus established patients.

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Detailed Description

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Conditions

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Oncology

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Primary Study Purpose

HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Blinding Strategy

SINGLE

Participants

Study Groups

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Comparison Group

Physicians in the control group did not receive peer comparison emails.

Group Type PLACEBO_COMPARATOR

No peer comparison email

Intervention Type OTHER

The comparison group received no email communication on their cancer stage documentation activity.

Intervention Group

Physicians in the intervention group received peer comparison emails.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Peer comparison email

Intervention Type OTHER

The intervention group received three separate emails with individualized data on their cancer stage documentation activity in the previous 1-3 months. The email described the number and percent of attributed patients for whom cancer stage was documented, and included a figure showing their staging documentation rate compared to their peers.

Interventions

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No peer comparison email

The comparison group received no email communication on their cancer stage documentation activity.

Intervention Type OTHER

Peer comparison email

The intervention group received three separate emails with individualized data on their cancer stage documentation activity in the previous 1-3 months. The email described the number and percent of attributed patients for whom cancer stage was documented, and included a figure showing their staging documentation rate compared to their peers.

Intervention Type OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* Attending physicians who had been at one of three sites of hospital between January - August 2018

Exclusion Criteria

* Physicians treating cancer patients where American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) staging modules were less clinically relevant
* Physicians with low clinical volume (\<5 patients over 3 months)
* Physicians without any outpatient visits

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes