Implementing physician education to increase lung cancer screening uptake

Coral Olazagasti; Nagashree Seetharamu; Nina Kohn; David Steiger

doi:10.2217/lmt-2022-0008

Implementing physician education to increase lung cancer screening uptake

Lung Cancer Manag. 2023 Apr 25;11(2):LMT55. doi: 10.2217/lmt-2022-0008. eCollection 2023 Feb.

Authors

Coral Olazagasti¹, Nagashree Seetharamu², Nina Kohn³, David Steiger⁴

Affiliations

¹ Division of Medical Oncology at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at The University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, FL 33136, USA.
² Division of Hematology-Oncology at Zucker School of Medicine @ Hofstra/Northwell Health New Hyde Park, NY 11042, USA.
³ Department of Biostatistics at Feinstein Institute for Medical Research Great Neck, NY 11021, USA.
⁴ Division of Pulmonary & Critical Care at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai New York, NY 10029, USA.

Abstract

Aim: Lung cancer (LC) is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. The US Preventive Services Task Force and National Comprehensive Cancer Network recommend annual low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) for eligible adults. We conducted a study to assess physician LDCT referral patterns.

Methods: The study was divided into a pre-, intervention, and post-intervention periods. The intervention was a LC screening educational series. We evaluated rates of LDCT screening referrals during pre- and post-intervention periods.

Results: In the pre-intervention period, 75 patients fulfilled US Preventive Services Task Force and/or National Comprehensive Cancer Network criteria and 27% underwent LDCT. In the post-intervention period, 135 patients fulfilled either screening criteria of whom 61.5% underwent LDCT.

Conclusion: In our study, educational lectures improved compliance significantly and should be used as tool for primary care providers to effectively increase LDCT screening referrals.

Keywords: early detection; lung cancer; physician education; quality improvement; screening; tobacco.