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COPD adds complexity to shared decision making for LDCT lung cancer screening
Current guidelines stress the importance of shared decision making, with discussion of the risks and benefits of screening.
The Connecticut Veterans Affairs Healthcare System has published the results of changes in lung cancer management associated with a nurse navigator system.10 Prior to creating the position of cancer care coordinator, filled by an advanced practice RNs, the mean time from clinical suspicion of lung cancer to treatment was 117 days. After 4 years of such care navigation, this waiting time had decreased to 52.4 days. Associated with this dramatic improvement in overall waiting time were decreases in the turnaround time required for performance of CT and PET scans. With respect to this big picture view of lung cancer care, our Diagnostic Clinic serves as a model for the initial step of diagnosis. Coordination and streamlining of the various steps from diagnosis to definitive therapy shall require a more system-wide effort involving all the key players in cancer care.
Conclusion
We have developed a care pathway based in a dedicated diagnostic clinic and have been able to document the shortest interval from abnormality to diagnosis of lung cancer reported in the literature to date. Efficient functioning of this clinic is dependent upon the close cooperation between a full-time RN clinic manager and an interventional pulmonologist experienced in lung cancer management and able to interpret cytologic samples at the time of biopsy. Shortening the delay between diagnosis and definitive therapy remains a challenge and may benefit from the oncology nurse navigator model previously described within the VA system. 10