The Patient Concerns Inventory is a free tool for use in modern clinical practice.
There are currently two versions of the Head and Neck Cancer PCI.
PCI HaNC-AD (at diagnosis)
This version has been specifically designed for patients who have been diagnosed, but not yet received treatment.
When diagnosed with cancer there is potentially a lot of information to take in. Some patients and family/carers like relatively little information other much more. It is very hard to get the amount of information right and it needs to be tailored for each individual patient. Also the information needs to be at the 'right' time for the patient and this can be both before treatment and at any time after treatment. Also we need to get the context and format of the information right, having said that there is arguably nothing better than one to one advice with the clinical team (consultant oncologist, consultant surgeon, Clinical Nurse Specialist, Emotional Support therapist, Clinical Psychologist, Speech and Language Therapist, Dietician, Oral Rehabilitation/ dentist etc. Ideally the information needs to be specific as possible to the individual, the cancer site, type, and treatment.
To try to help facilitate the sharing of information with patients at the most appropriate time for them we developed a PCI-pre-treatment (diagnosis). This can be given to the patient at diagnosis and used as often as necessary by the patient in any of the subsequent consultations / hospital visits. More information is on this page.
PCI HaNC-PT (post treatment)
The PCI HaNC-PT consists of 57 clinical and other items which patients are asked to select to help guide their outpatient consultation through the symptoms and problems that they are experiencing following treatment for head and neck cancer. It helps to direct the consultation and can act as a trigger for on-ward referral for areas of patient concern.
Benefits
Following extensive research we have discovered that;
- It generally provides tremendous support from patient, nurse, and consultants.
- The vast majority of patients wish to carry on using the PCI
- It was easy to adopt in clinic with minimal disruption to the routine out-patient review consultations.
- It makes the consultations more holistic and help patients to raise issues that otherwise tend to be missed.
- It increases patient satisfaction with consultations.
- It raises patients expectations but these are met through he use of the PCI.
- Most issues are addressed in clinic with only a relatively small number needing formal new onward referral.
Starting in 2011, the PCI is one of the quality indicators for submission to DAHNOnational dataset.
Paper versions with your Trust logo are available on request (Contact us here).
Your feedback is always welcome.