Aims: Management of patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer varies in Australia and there are limited treatment guidelines. We are using an eDelphi process to harness the opinions of clinicians to develop a quality-of-care score against which we will benchmark the care of patients with pancreatic cancer.
Methods: Using an eDelphi process and snowball sampling technique, clinicians (including surgeons, medical and radiation oncologists, gastroenterologists, palliative care physicians, nurses, allied health professionals and others were invited to participate. We sent an initial online survey asking participants to list factors they considered important in the care of patients with suspected or confirmed pancreatic cancer. We will use a thematic analysis to derive a list of factors identified as being important. A second survey will be sent to clinicians asking them to score the importance of each factor on a scale ranging from 0 (not important) to 10 (very important). Mean scores for each factor will be calculated and we will then send each participant a further survey in which their previous score and the group mean score will be included. They will be asked to rescore each item.
Results: We sent invitations to participate to 262 clinicians, with 69 (26%) completing the initial survey. From these responses 385 factors were listed which were grouped by diagnosis, surgery, multidisciplinary management, communication and support, palliative care, chemotherapy, and symptom management. The items most frequently listed were use of pancreatic protocol CT scanning for diagnosis, presentation at multidisciplinary clinics and early referral to palliative care.
Conclusion: Clinicians from many specialties are willing to provide opinions about factors that are important in the care of pancreatic cancer. By pooling their expertise, we plan to provide a quality-of-care score for patients with pancreatic cancer. We will benchmark a cohort of patients against this score and identify personal and system parameters which influence the quality of care in Australia.