None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
The prevalence of cancer detected at an early stage of the disease is rising, which means that more people require adjuvant cancer treatment and are surviving for longer periods of time. As a result, cancer specialists are faced with large numbers of patients who not only require treatment but also long term follow-up care. In Australia, radiation oncology clinics are heavily subscribed and patients’ appointments are subject to waiting lists. This situation would be improved if patients who have completed their treatment could be discharged to the care of their GP. It is anticipated that routine follow-up with a specialist will not be possible in the future and alternative safe and effective strategies for follow-up need to be developed. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in Australian men. Although prostate cancer is life threatening, the majority of patients who present with early disease live beyond five years. While treatment increases survival rates, a myriad of associated physical side effects may have an impact on the patient’s quality of life. Common side effects of radiation therapy include: loss of sexual potency, erectile dysfunction, loss of libido, urinary tract symptoms, incontinence and proctitis. If prostate cancer is not treated early patients are also at risk of disease spread. Following radiation therapy patients therefore need to be monitored for both side effects and disease spread. The provision of follow-up care for prostate cancer is under-researched. GPs are well placed to take on the role of providing follow-up care for patients who have previously been treated in specialist clinics. However, previous studies report that GPs have varying knowledge of the use of radiation therapy and consequently have limited expertise in managing side effects and providing appropriate referral. Innovative educational resources therefore need to be developed to assist GPs in advising patients who have received radiation therapy. Hypothesis: The evidence based resources (GP educational program) will assist GPs in providing follow-up care to patients and increase patient enablement. If GPs are able to take on this role in the multidisciplinary team, other patients will be able to access radiation oncology sooner and radiation oncology will be able to provide rapid access to patients who require urgent treatment or care.
Interventions
This 12 month study involves an educational intervention whereby:
(a) GPs providing follow-up care to consenting patients may(group1) or may not ( group2) have access to an online education program. The education program being tested in this study is an online learning program. This educational program involves participants ( GPs) answering emailed case based questions which will be delivered to all practices via email. The Spaced Education program will focus on the management of patients foll
This 12 month study involves an educational intervention whereby: (a) GPs providing follow-up care to consenting patients may(group1) or may not ( group2) have access to an online education program. The education program being tested in this study is an online learning program. This educational program involves participants ( GPs) answering emailed case based questions which will be delivered to all practices via email. The Spaced Education program will focus on the management of patients following active treatment by a specialist, which may include surgery, radiotherapy and hormonal treatment. GPs will be sent 2 case studies with questions 2-3 times a week with 2-3 reminders. Questions will be repeated 14 days later if answered correctly and 21 days later if answered incorrectly. The program is completed when each question is answered correctly twice. The intervention developed for this feasibility study is expected to take only a few minutes every second day for approximately 6 weeks. There will be no additional resources provided to the patients.
Sponsors
Curtin University
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Educational / counselling / training
Masking
Open (masking not used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
To be eligible for inclusion, a patient must satisfy ALL of the following: (a) Diagnosed with prostate cancer (b) Completed curative radiation therapy for prostate cancer (patients can be up to 6 months post treatment at time of recruitment) (c) Undergoing follow-up care (d) Available for up to 12 months after recruitment (e) Over 18 years of age (f) Able to give informed consent. To be eligible for inclusion, a GP must satisfy ALL of the following: (a) their patient is eligible, consents and nominates them for the study (b) Available for up to 12 months after recruitment (c) Able to give informed consent.
Exclusion criteria
Patients will be excluded from the study if they are unable to provide informed consent. GPs not available for 12 months of the study will not be included.
Outcome results
None listed