Grants and Contracts Details
Description
With the social restrictions in place relation to COVID-19/SARS-CoV2, lung cancer screening programs in Kentucky and across the nation have been temporarily deemed non-essential services in support of preventative action to reduce the risk of spread of COVID-19. Undoubtedly, an appropriate action, but one that creates significant uncertainty for this novel, yet vitally important service for transforming the landscape of lung cancer and reducing the devastating burden of lung cancer mortality throughout the United States. The relative novelty and recent innovation that led to implementation of lung cancer screening creates a certain vulnerability to sustaining these programs. Based on anecdotal reports from screening program leaders in Kentucky and throughout the US, concerns have been raised about the process of re-opening these programs post-pandemic. Concerns have been related to when and how the programs will re-open, even whether they will ever re-open. This latter concern seems to be raised by smaller and newer lung cancer screening programs that have not firmly established a foundation of referral sources or achieved integration into their care setting or practice region. Yet these programs are among the most important for providing access to underserved and rural areas that experience some of the highest rates of lung cancer incidence and mortality.
To begin the process of addressing this emergent challenge, we propose to collect data from lung cancer screening program medical directors and program navigators. The aims will be to (1) develop a detailed understanding of the scope of this threat to sustaining lung cancer screening implementation, and (2) elicit ideas regarding the information, tools, and resources that may help programs re-launch and sustain these vital programs.
We propose a highly implementable, short-term mixed methods project to explore questions related to re-opening screening programs. We plan to conduct a combination of interviews and surveys to collect information about (1) program history and status, (2) program re-opening planning, (3) concerns and issues related to re-opening, and (4) resources that may help support program re-opening. We plan to collect data from each medical director and program coordinator for the 10 Kentucky LEADS Collaborative Quality Implementation of Lung Cancer Screening project sites and at least 10 other medical directors and program coordinators of lung cancer screening programs in Kentucky that are not currently engaged in Kentucky LEADS. Analysis of the data will initially focus on identifying themes and ideas from the interview data regarding challenges and opportunities, but will also use survey data to describe the scope of the challenge, the level of concern, needs for support, and then correlate this information about program history and status. This will help to segment programs that may have different challenges and needs. Following data collection, analysis, and interpretation, the group will transition to developing resources to support lung cancer screening programs in their efforts to re-open services in a safe, patient-centered, and effective manner.
Project Timeline
Project Months
Tasks
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Finalize Methods
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Obtain IRB approval
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Field Survey
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Conduct Interviews
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Perform Analyses
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Development Tools
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Disseminate Tools
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Status | Finished |
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Effective start/end date | 9/1/20 → 12/31/21 |
Funding
- Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation Incorporated: $19,458.00
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