Assessment of serum calcium in -patients referred for suspected lung cancer: A quality -improvement project to enhance patient safety in clinical practice.

Background: Hypercalcaemia is a serious complication of lung cancer. A quality improvement project (QIP) was designed based on guidance from the American College of Chest Physician and the European Respiratory Society who recommend measuring serum calcium for patients referred with suspected lung cancer.

Method: Seventy-two patients were included in the initial data to ascertain the delay between referral to the lung cancer pathway and obtaining serum calcium levels as part of the initial work-up.