Researchers: David Chinitz¹

Background: Coordination of care between hospital and community settings for oncology patients has been as needing improvement in the international literature and in previous research in Israel (NIHP project 08/98).

Objectives: To discover the perceptions of key players in oncology services in Israel regarding issues related to coordination of care and potential ameliorating steps.

Method: Qualitative interviews (30) and focus groups (10) were conducted with oncology physicians and nurses and one administrator.
Fifteen interviews with cancer patients were conducted.
Resulting texts were analyzed to identify major categories.

Findings: There are breaks in communication between hospital and community setting, especially between oncologists and primary care physicians, caused in part by professional status differences between the two sectors. Patients are often admitted for oncology related reasons through the hospital emergency room, and the community-hospital link remains broken from diagnosis, through inpatent treatment, and return to the community. Respondents emphasized the importance of developing coordinating mechanisms.

Conclusions: A number of factors block effective coordination of community and hospital care in oncology. Improved communication between the two sectors as well as defining roles, such as case managers are needed.

Recommendations: To improve communication between community and hospital through better use of information systems, and to assign coordination of care to defined roles such as nurse coordinators.

Research end date: 12/2017