Title: Integrating multidisciplinary care for head and neck patients into a single electronic health record platform

Background
Electronic Health Records (EHR) can improve patient outcomes and improve patient-clinician decision making1. In radiotherapy, this is not a new concept as “Record and Verify” HER systems are an integral part of radiation dose prescribing and delivery. However, multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) typically utilise other methods resulting that patient reported outcome measures (PROMS), diagnostic details and clinical assessments are not readily accessible in one system.
Aims
To adapt the radiotherapy platform Aria© to fully integrate multi-disciplinary care into the Electronic Health record for patients with head and neck cancer.
Methods
MDT meetings with the Aria vendor (Varian) and an institutional IT specialist were conducted. New discipline specific additions (“encounters”) were created for Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNS), with Speech and Language Therapist (SLT) and Dietician currently in development.
Results
The Clinical Nurse Specialist encounter for head and neck patients is demonstrated below showing the key items the CNS addresses at the initial consultation with the patient (figure 1).
PROMs are a key component of the SLT assessment (figure 2).
Conclusions
Integrating multidisciplinary care into the existing Aria platform is feasible and enables a comprehensive patient review integrating clinician assessments and validated patient reported outcomes measures.
Figure 1: Diagram of CNS Encounter
Figure 2: Electronic MDADI