CASNET2: evaluation of an electronic safety netting cancer toolkit for the primary care electronic health record: protocol for a pragmatic stepped-wedge RCT

Introduction Safety-netting in primary care is the best practice in cancer diagnosis, ensuring that patients are followed up until symptoms are explained or have resolved. Currently, clinicians use haphazard manual solutions. The ubiquitous use of electronic health records provides an opportunity to...

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Main Authors: Clare Bankhead, Rafael Perera, Simon de Lusignan, Ivelina Yonova, Susannah Fleming, Richard Hobbs, Brian D Nicholson, Yasemin Hirst, Afsana Bhuiya, Julian Sherlock
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMJ Publishing Group 2020-08-01
Series:BMJ Open
Online Access:https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/10/8/e038562.full
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author Clare Bankhead
Rafael Perera
Simon de Lusignan
Ivelina Yonova
Susannah Fleming
Richard Hobbs
Brian D Nicholson
Yasemin Hirst
Afsana Bhuiya
Julian Sherlock
author_facet Clare Bankhead
Rafael Perera
Simon de Lusignan
Ivelina Yonova
Susannah Fleming
Richard Hobbs
Brian D Nicholson
Yasemin Hirst
Afsana Bhuiya
Julian Sherlock
author_sort Clare Bankhead
collection DOAJ
description Introduction Safety-netting in primary care is the best practice in cancer diagnosis, ensuring that patients are followed up until symptoms are explained or have resolved. Currently, clinicians use haphazard manual solutions. The ubiquitous use of electronic health records provides an opportunity to standardise safety-netting practices.A new electronic safety-netting toolkit has been introduced to provide systematic ways to track and follow up patients. We will evaluate the effectiveness of this toolkit, which is embedded in a major primary care clinical system in England:Egerton Medical Information System(EMIS)-Web.Methods and analysis We will conduct a stepped-wedge cluster RCT in 60 general practices within the RCGP Research and Surveillance Centre (RSC) network. Groups of 10 practices will be randomised into the active phase at 2-monthly intervals over 12 months. All practices will be activated for at least 2 months. The primary outcome is the primary care interval measured as days between the first recorded symptom of cancer (within the year prior to diagnosis) and the subsequent referral to secondary care. Other outcomes include referrals rates and rates of direct access cancer investigation.Analysis of the clustered stepped-wedge design will model associations using a fixed effect for intervention condition of the cluster at each time step, a fixed effect for time and other covariates, and then include a random effect for practice and for patient to account for correlation between observations from the same centre and from the same participant.Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval has been obtained from the North West—Greater Manchester West National Health Service Research Ethics Committee (REC Reference 19/NW/0692). Results will be disseminated in peer-reviewed journals and conferences, and sent to participating practices. They will be published on the University of Oxford Nuffield Department of Primary Care and RCGP RSC websites.Trial registration number ISRCTN15913081; Pre-results.
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spelling doaj-art-804900996ab74f11b5ea7b3457e3694a2025-08-20T02:08:39ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Open2044-60552020-08-0110810.1136/bmjopen-2020-038562CASNET2: evaluation of an electronic safety netting cancer toolkit for the primary care electronic health record: protocol for a pragmatic stepped-wedge RCTClare Bankhead0Rafael Perera1Simon de Lusignan2Ivelina Yonova3Susannah Fleming4Richard Hobbs5Brian D Nicholson6Yasemin Hirst7Afsana Bhuiya8Julian Sherlock9NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford, UK1 Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK5 Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK2Royal College of General Practitioners, London, UK1 Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK2 University of Oxford Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, National Institute for Health Research Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, Oxford, UK1 Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UKEpidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London, UKNorth Central and East London Cancer Alliance, London, UKNuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, Oxford University, Oxford, UKIntroduction Safety-netting in primary care is the best practice in cancer diagnosis, ensuring that patients are followed up until symptoms are explained or have resolved. Currently, clinicians use haphazard manual solutions. The ubiquitous use of electronic health records provides an opportunity to standardise safety-netting practices.A new electronic safety-netting toolkit has been introduced to provide systematic ways to track and follow up patients. We will evaluate the effectiveness of this toolkit, which is embedded in a major primary care clinical system in England:Egerton Medical Information System(EMIS)-Web.Methods and analysis We will conduct a stepped-wedge cluster RCT in 60 general practices within the RCGP Research and Surveillance Centre (RSC) network. Groups of 10 practices will be randomised into the active phase at 2-monthly intervals over 12 months. All practices will be activated for at least 2 months. The primary outcome is the primary care interval measured as days between the first recorded symptom of cancer (within the year prior to diagnosis) and the subsequent referral to secondary care. Other outcomes include referrals rates and rates of direct access cancer investigation.Analysis of the clustered stepped-wedge design will model associations using a fixed effect for intervention condition of the cluster at each time step, a fixed effect for time and other covariates, and then include a random effect for practice and for patient to account for correlation between observations from the same centre and from the same participant.Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval has been obtained from the North West—Greater Manchester West National Health Service Research Ethics Committee (REC Reference 19/NW/0692). Results will be disseminated in peer-reviewed journals and conferences, and sent to participating practices. They will be published on the University of Oxford Nuffield Department of Primary Care and RCGP RSC websites.Trial registration number ISRCTN15913081; Pre-results.https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/10/8/e038562.full
spellingShingle Clare Bankhead
Rafael Perera
Simon de Lusignan
Ivelina Yonova
Susannah Fleming
Richard Hobbs
Brian D Nicholson
Yasemin Hirst
Afsana Bhuiya
Julian Sherlock
CASNET2: evaluation of an electronic safety netting cancer toolkit for the primary care electronic health record: protocol for a pragmatic stepped-wedge RCT
BMJ Open
title CASNET2: evaluation of an electronic safety netting cancer toolkit for the primary care electronic health record: protocol for a pragmatic stepped-wedge RCT
title_full CASNET2: evaluation of an electronic safety netting cancer toolkit for the primary care electronic health record: protocol for a pragmatic stepped-wedge RCT
title_fullStr CASNET2: evaluation of an electronic safety netting cancer toolkit for the primary care electronic health record: protocol for a pragmatic stepped-wedge RCT
title_full_unstemmed CASNET2: evaluation of an electronic safety netting cancer toolkit for the primary care electronic health record: protocol for a pragmatic stepped-wedge RCT
title_short CASNET2: evaluation of an electronic safety netting cancer toolkit for the primary care electronic health record: protocol for a pragmatic stepped-wedge RCT
title_sort casnet2 evaluation of an electronic safety netting cancer toolkit for the primary care electronic health record protocol for a pragmatic stepped wedge rct
url https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/10/8/e038562.full
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