The Clinical Effectiveness team would like to thank all respondents to our survey; your input has been invaluable in helping us improve our process to support members with the implementation of clinical guidelines

In February 2020 we conducted a survey that was sent to all 2,197 cellular pathologist members in order to identify how (and how often) our clinical guidelines are being used by our members and how we can help facilitate their implementation as well as identify areas of improvement. We received 150 responses that , while small in proportion to the number of members the survey was sent to, provided powerful views about how we can improve our clinical guidelines. 

What did we find?

The survey has shown that cancer datasets are the most popular clinical guidelines among our members. When it comes to communicating the publication of new or revised guidelines, the results show that members are happy about the different ways in which the College communicates this to members. It was recommended that we provide clear information regarding implementation times of guidelines.  

Findings show that our members would like more support with the implementation of our clinical guidelines (in particular with datasets and tissue pathways) i.e. educational meetings, conferences or workshops. Other suggestions include providing examples of how guidelines can be put into practice, providing audit feedback and clinical cases scenarios.

LIMS seems to be one of the biggest problems in enabling the integration of proforma reporting. The College may need to consider its position with regards to IT systems that cannot support updated guidelines or produce standardised reports. 

Lack of time, lack of IT functionality and lack of staff are the three main areas that impede implementation of guidelines. However, it appears that the lack of funding is the main contributor to these areas and could be the link for better LIMS and having a sustainable workforce in place to be able to carry out work without any pressure or delay.

What’s next?

The survey findings  have been considered by the CE team and the Working Group on Cancer Services (WGCS) to aid in better implementation of guidelines, improving dataset proformas and providing better guidance for different areas of cancer reporting. We have agreed to start working on the following areas:

• to look at how we could provide educational activities via webinars post guideline publication with guidance and practical tips
• to provide more detailed emails to members with clear information regarding any new or revised guidelines and indicating an appropriate implementation time
• to review the production process to speed up the publication of guidelines
• to consider the development of more IT-friendly cancer dataset proformas
• to lead discussions on how LIMS need to be fit for purpose to improve the IT infrastructure and create a platform that could facilitate pathology reporting.

For more information about the survey please see the below document.