Future Health Today: A pragmatic cluster randomised trial of quality improvement activities in general practice for patients at risk of undiagnosed cancer.

Unlabelled: Diagnosing cancer in general practice is complex, given the non-specific nature of many presenting symptoms and the overlap of potential diagnoses. This trial evaluated the effectiveness of a technology, Future Health Today (FHT), which provides clinical decision support, auditing, and quality improvement monitoring, on the appropriate follow-up of patients at risk of undiagnosed cancer.

Methods: Pragmatic, cluster randomised trial in Australian general practice.

Adoption, acceptance, and use of a decision support tool to promote timely investigations for cancer in primary care.

Background: The complexities of diagnosing cancer in general practice has driven the development of quality improvement (QI) interventions, including clinical decision support (CDS) and auditing tools. Future Health Today (FHT) is a novel QI tool, consisting of CDS at the point-of-care, practice population-level auditing, recall, and the monitoring of QI activities.

Objectives: Explore the acceptability and usability of the FHT cancer module, which flags patients with abnormal test results that may be indicative of undiagnosed cancer.

A scoping review of unexpected weight loss and cancer: risk, guidelines, and recommendations for follow-up in primary care.

Background: Cancer diagnoses often begin with consultations with GPs, but the non-specific nature of symptoms can lead to delayed diagnosis. Unexpected weight loss (UWL) is a common non-specific symptom linked to undiagnosed cancer, yet guidelines for its diagnostic assessment in general practice lack consistency.

Aim: To synthesise evidence on the association between UWL and cancer diagnosis, and to review clinical guidelines and recommendations for assessing patients with UWL.

Optimising a clinical decision support tool to improve chronic kidney disease management in general practice.

Background: Early identification and treatment of chronic disease is associated with better clinical outcomes, lower costs, and reduced hospitalisation. Primary care is ideally placed to identify patients at risk of, or in the early stages of, chronic disease and to implement prevention and early intervention measures. This paper evaluates the implementation of a technological intervention called Future Health Today that integrates with general practice EMRs to (1) identify patients at-risk of, or with undiagnosed or untreated, chronic kidney disease (CKD), and (2) provide guideline concordant recommendations for patient care.

Perceptions of primary care patients on the use of electronic clinical decision support tools to facilitate health care: A systematic review.

Objective: Electronic clinical decision support tools (eCDSTs) are interventions designed to facilitate clinical decision-making using targeted medical knowledge and patient information. While eCDSTs have been demonstrated to improve quality of care, there is a paucity of research relating to the acceptability of eCDSTs in primary care from the patients' perspective. This study aims to summarize current evidence relating to primary care patients' perceptions and experiences on the use of eCDSTs by their clinician to provide care.

A systematic review of smartphone applications for cancer survivors.

Purpose: Mobile phone applications are positioned to support, educate, and empower cancer survivors during post-treatment care. We undertook a review to assess the utility of such smartphone applications; determine whether their use correlates with improved quality of life and other self-reported outcomes; and understand the feasibility of integrating mobile apps into routine follow-up care.

Methods: MEDLINE, EMBASE, Emcare, and PsycINFO databases were searched for studies evaluating apps that addressed at least one of the five Cancer Survivorship Care Quality Framework (CSCQF) domains published up until December 2021.

Failure to follow up abnormal test results associated with cervical cancer in primary and ambulatory care: a systematic review.

Background: Cervical cancer is a preventable and treatable form of cancer yet continues to be the fourth most common cancer among women globally. Primary care is the first point of contact most patients have with health services and is where most cancer prevention and early detection occur. Inadequate follow-up of abnormal test results for cervical abnormalities in primary care can lead to suboptimal patient outcomes including higher mortality and decreased quality of life.

General practice-based cancer research publications: a bibliometric analysis 2013-2019.

Background: General practice plays a critical role in the prevention, diagnosis, management, and survivorship care of patients with cancer. Mapping research outputs over time provides valuable insights into the evolving role of general practice in cancer care.

Aim: To describe and compare the distribution of cancer in general practice research publications by country, cancer type, area of the cancer continuum, author sex, and journal impact factor.

Optimization of a Quality Improvement Tool for Cancer Diagnosis in Primary Care: Qualitative Study.

Background: The most common route to a diagnosis of cancer is through primary care. Delays in diagnosing cancer occur when an opportunity to make a timely diagnosis is missed and is evidenced by patients visiting the general practitioner (GP) on multiple occasions before referral to a specialist. Tools that minimize prolonged diagnostic intervals and reduce missed opportunities to investigate patients for cancer are therefore a priority.

Interventions for head and neck cancer survivors: Systematic review.

Background: Interventions for head/neck cancer (HNC) survivors may not address their cancer-related and general health needs.

Methods: Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guided this systematic review of studies from 2000 to 2021 of interventions targeting cancer survivors treated with curative-intent, using MEDLINE, Embase, Emcare, and PsycINFO. Interventions were categorized into domains of the Quality of Cancer Survivorship Care Framework to characterize the scope and quality of interventions.

Improving the patient-reported outcome sections of clinical trial protocols: a mixed methods evaluation of educational workshops.

Introduction: Failure to incorporate key patient-reported outcome (PRO) content in trial protocols affects the quality and interpretability of the collected data, contributing to research waste. Our group developed evidence-based training specifically addressing PRO components of protocols. We aimed to assess whether 2-day educational workshops improved the PRO completeness of protocols against consensus-based minimum standards provided in the SPIRIT-PRO Extension in 2018.

Long-term consumer involvement in cancer research: Working towards partnership.

Background: Meaningful consumer involvement in health research is important. There are limited data on how to maintain long-term consumer involvement.

Objective: To identify barriers and facilitators to meaningful long-term consumer involvement in research.

Look who's talking now: Cancer in primary care on Twitter. An observational study.

Background: Twitter is a microblogging platform that helps share information. It is a dynamic tool that has been embraced by many user types including consumers and healthcare professionals (HCPs). Currently, there are no data on how cancer in primary care features on Twitter.

Decision support tools to improve cancer diagnostic decision making in primary care: a systematic review.

Background: The diagnosis of cancer in primary care is complex and challenging. Electronic clinical decision support tools (eCDSTs) have been proposed as an approach to improve GP decision making, but no systematic review has examined their role in cancer diagnosis.

Aim: To investigate whether eCDSTs improve diagnostic decision making for cancer in primary care and to determine which elements influence successful implementation.

General practitioners' management of cancers in Australian adolescents and young adults.

General practitioners (GPs) are often the first point of contact adolescents and young adults (AYAs, aged 10-29) with cancer have with the health system, and they are well-placed to coordinate their complex medical and psychosocial care. This study is the first to report characteristics of patients, GPs and cancers involved in AYA cancer management consultations in Australia, using data from a nationally representative sample of 972,100 patient-GP encounters in 2006-2016. AYA cancers were managed in 212 encounters, equating to approximately 137 per 100,000 AYA consultations.