title: Audit of referral pathways in the diagnosis of lung cancer: a pilot study.
abstract: This pilot study sought to describe the diagnostic pathways for patients with lung cancer and explore the feasibility of a medical record audit for this purpose. An audit of 25 medical records of patients with a confirmed diagnosis of lung cancer was conducted, at a single outer metropolitan hospital in Victoria. Patients were presented to secondary care from general practice (n=17, 68%), the emergency department (n=3, 12%) or specialist rooms (n=1, 4%). Those who journeyed through general practice experienced the longest median intervals to diagnosis (20 days, interquartile range 7-47). The majority of patients (n=15, 60%) were referred by a specialist to a multidisciplinary team after a diagnosis had been confirmed but before treatment commenced. These patients waited a median of 20 days from their first specialist appointment to a multidisciplinary team appointment. This research illustrated that a variety of pathways to diagnosis exist. Critically, it requires patient data and additional auditing of primary, public and private health sector records to determine generalisability of findings and the effectiveness of a medical record audit as a data collection tool.
authors.affiliation: Southern Melbourne Integrated Cancer Service, PO Box 73, 823-865 Centre Road, East Bentleigh, Vic. 3165, Australia.
authors.forename: Geraldine
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Largey
authors.affiliation: Department of General Practice, School of Primary Health Care, Monash University, Building 1, 270 Ferntree Gully Road, Notting Hill, Vic. 3168, Australia.
authors.forename: Samantha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chakraborty
authors.affiliation: Southern Melbourne Integrated Cancer Service, PO Box 73, 823-865 Centre Road, East Bentleigh, Vic. 3165, Australia.
authors.forename: Tracey
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tobias
authors.affiliation: Southern Melbourne Integrated Cancer Service, PO Box 73, 823-865 Centre Road, East Bentleigh, Vic. 3165, Australia.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Briggs
authors.affiliation: Department of General Practice, School of Primary Health Care, Monash University, Building 1, 270 Ferntree Gully Road, Notting Hill, Vic. 3168, Australia.
authors.forename: Danielle
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mazza
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001315:Australia; D054869:Clinical Audit; D057210:Delayed Diagnosis; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D058006:General Practice; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D010348:Patient Care Team; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012307:Risk Factors