Assessment of data workflow among cancer healthcare providers in Palestine: Redesigning health informatics model for cancer registry رسالة ماجستير

Abstract

Cancer registries collect tumor-related data to monitor epidemiological incident or mortality rates and support cancer research in both studies hospital based and population based. Data workflow process is a common concern when applying hospital or population based registry data among healthcare providers. The ultimate goal of data workflow is to improve organizational efficiency and responsiveness for both governmental and private sectors in addition to profitability for private sector only. However, few recent worldwide studies have systemically assessed cancer registry data workflow. To our knowledge there is a lack of systematic assessments of data workflow in Palestine and therefore there are no specific guidelines for reporting cancer cases through the National Cancer e-Registry in Palestine. The main aim of this study is to assess the efficacy of the data workflow in the cancer registry as well as redesign a model for such a data workflow in Palestine.Our objectives also to assess the data workflow of cancer cases in Palestine, to identify the challenges and facilitators of data workflow for cancer registry and to design a new data model for cancer informatics with regards to data workflow. To achieve our research objectives a triangulation (quantitative and qualitative) study approach was used. First, we used the Palestinian National Cancer Registry dataset from 2018 to assess the data workflow and subtask within the process cycle depending on the validated indicators designed by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Then, cancer registrars and data collectors for cancer cases were interviewed using a model adopted by Indiana University from June2016 and an assessment framework for health modeling that VII was developed by the European Network of Cancer Registries (ENCR). The interviews were recorded and analyzed. A new data model was then designed based on the assessment of the current cancer data workflow. Our results show convergence and completion or near completion for all variables except for cause of death. The average completeness and validity of the data is 95.56%. The barriers and facilitators identified were categorized into six themes and the most common barrier was related to localization of health services and not understanding the concepts related to cancer registry, however the most reported facilitators were related to benefits from previous experiences. The redesign workflow focused on facilitating communication between registrars and their access to information in the focal point centers. A proper cancer registry is very important as a form of evidence-based data to improve quality of care and prevent cancer deaths in Palestine. Accurate death rates and treatment protocols are fundamental to improving the policies that serve the patient.