Abstract
Introduction: The surveillance of patients with incidental pulmonary nodules overloads existing lung cancer clinics&multidisciplinary teams(MDT).At King's,until 2014,there were>700 patients under follow-up for incidentally identified nodules on imaging.There was an unmet need for a separate novel service & clinical pathway.
Aim: To provide a model of setting up a novel pulmonary nodule service & a pragmatic pathway to address the above need.
Materials/Methods: Retrospective review of established processes and referral mechanisms to the new King's Pulmonary Nodule Service(PNS).
Results: The King's PNS comprises a nodule MDT, a 'virtual' clinic & a dedicated electronic proforma referral system. There is no requirement for patients to physically attend clinics,only scans;instead, all referrals are received electronically from within the Trust, allied Trusts or GPs & are triaged by the PNS. , show the clinical pathway used.
Conclusions: The proposed pathway offers a pragmatic approach to setting up a service addressing an increasing need.Its application is feasible in a tertiary care setting but can also be applied in secondary care.
- Copyright ©the authors 2016
