Program

Physician Assistant M.S.

Year Approved

2021

First Advisor

Naser, Lisa

Abstract

This was a quality improvement project that will allow improvements to be made in healthcare services offered and the overall health status of Stage IV metastatic lung cancer patients receiving palliative care referrals. Data was collected retrospectively from electronic medical records of Stage IV metastatic lung cancer patients with palliative care referrals between January 2019 and March 2020. The palliative care referrals between January 2019 and August 2019 were given per oncologist discretion in timing compared to August 2019-March 2020 when new patients received nurse navigator driven palliative care referrals immediately upon diagnosis. Data analysis looked at correlations for each group as presented regarding treatment dates, ethnicity, and gender. An attempt to determine quality of life measures through the PROMs survey was made; however, there was not enough data to make a determination due to the limited number of completed surveys.The study found that nurse navigator driven palliative care referrals did not increase palliative care received by patients diagnosed with Stage IV metastatic lung cancer. There was no significant difference between palliative care patients receiving a referral based on oncologist discretion versus receiving immediate referrals through a nurse navigator; therefore, the effect of palliative care referrals upon initial diagnosis on the severity of anxiety, sadness, and pain in patients with Stage IV metastatic lung cancer, as well as narcotic need, and treatments received is indeterminate.

Degree Name

Masters of Science in Physician Assistant

Document Type

Masterʼs thesis

Download

Included in

Primary Care Commons

Share

COinS