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Delivering Results: How Cellma Supports Medical Oncology Departments
Medical oncology provides lifesaving treatments like chemotherapy, targeted therapies, and immunotherapies to the patients fighting with cancer. Managing patients smoothly while maintaining smooth workflow along with the fact that treatment needs to be delivered to these patients in an error-free manner poses a huge challenge to the medical oncology department. This blog highlights the challenges of medical oncology departments and how our advanced EHR/EPR software, Cellma, can enhance patient care and optimise the functioning of the department.
UK Lags Behind Other Countries in Treatment of Cancer Patients:
A new report by UCL, UK, 2024, show that the UK is trailing other developed nations in providing its patients with some of the most common types of cancer treatment, which include chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The report revealed that, for more than 780,000 patients from the UK, Australia, Canada, and Norway, it was taking patients in the UK much longer (long waiting times) for these life-or-death treatments, particularly the older patients. Waiting times also varied significantly across different regions.
Countries with higher treatment rates have better survival rates from cancer, and thus, the importance of early access to treatment. Such delays cause significant problems for medical oncology units and affect the prognosis of patients while placing greater stress on healthcare systems. Hence, advanced EHR software is a necessity in order to tackle the issues.
Challenges in the Medical Oncology Department:
The departments are usually placed under pressure and stress by the serious oncoming demand to be treated for cancer. Due to the intricacy surrounding treatment methods of cancer, which are multi-disciplinary in nature, following challenges are encountered by the department:
Disorganised Patient Files: A patient’s data concerning his or her test results, treatment plans, and medical history become unmanageable in large numbers.
Appointment and Treatment scheduling problems: The procedure, with three departments at different hospitals involved, makes arranging treatment and timely availability complicated. Missed appointments delay the chemotherapy sessions, failures to coordinate prolong patient suffering.
Communication Breakdowns: There is a great need for effective communication among oncologists, radiologists, surgeons, and other specialists. Unfortunately, most departments are still operating paper systems and are prone to delays and loss of information.
Workload Management: The cancer departments end up doing workloads; the departments get staff burnout and dysfunctional care delivery.
How Cellma Helps Streamline Medical Oncology Departments:
Cellma is an advanced EHR/EPR designed to help healthcare providers streamline operations and improve patient care. With more than 30 customisable modules, Cellma is a comprehensive solution, integrating the various aspects of cancer care. Here’s how Cellma deals with the issues faced by the medical oncology departments:
Patient Administration and Scheduling Module:
The patient administration and scheduling (PAS) module is important in the management of patient registration, admission, discharge, and transfer processes. For medical oncology departments, this module makes it easy to schedule appointments in a way that they fall in line with the oncologists’ schedules. Cellma’s patient portal or mobile app can be used to book or reschedule appointments, which means reducing administrative burdens and minimising waiting times. It allows for the timely provision of treatments, reduces delays, and improves care coordination.
Electronic Patient Record Module:
The electronic patient record module is the heart of Cellma. In this module, all of the patient data is saved safely and is accessible for the personnel with access. Medical oncologists access histories, lab results, chemotherapy regimens, etc, all very easily. This minimises use of paper records, reduces mistakes, and helps in improved decision making because it puts real-time data for optimum treatment plans.
Imaging Module:
The imaging module is crucial for the department because it allows managing several diagnostic imaging, such as CT scans, MRIs, and X-rays. All images are stored in one location, and oncologists can view, compare, annotate and follow the imaging results easily. This feature enables proper planning before treatment and allows oncologists to monitor the progression of the tumour and its response to the therapies.
Labs Module:
In medical oncology, lab tests usually guide treatments. Cellma’s laboratory module directly feeds the results of diagnosis tests into the EPR for visibility by health care providers at any given time. It prevents delays in updating the records of the patients, making treatment planning speedier and more accurate.
E-Pharmacy Module:
E-Pharmacy module deals with the medications, prescriptions, and doses in real-time. In medical oncology, particular chemotherapy medications and treatments are prescribed, and Cellma ensures that these prescriptions are dealt correctly. This minimises medication errors and patients get appropriate medications at appropriate times.
Document Management:
This module stores all the documents, including treatment plans, consent forms, and surgical reports. The module enables the oncologist and healthcare professionals to electronically store, retrieve, and update all patient-related documents securely to maintain workflow efficiency and follow regulations while reducing the likelihood of misplaced documents.
Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) Module:
The treatment for cancer is usually multidisciplinary, where oncologists, surgeons, radiologists, and other specialists work together. Cellma’s MDT module motivates teamwork by offering a sole source of access and updates of patient records by each member of the team. Conclusively, through this, all the specialists are on the same page, hence bringing out good results for the patients.
Business Intelligence and Reporting Module:
This module supports medical oncology departments in KPI tracking, treatment results, and workflows of the departments. Such reports may be generated by both oncologists and administrators and thus will provide insights on improvement of care delivery regarding patient development, chemotherapy completion rates, and resource utilisation.
Patient Portal:
Cellma’s patient portal allows patients to view tests, schedule appointments, view their medical history, and communicate directly with health professionals. This self-service interface makes them more involved and up to date with their health and helps them follow treatment and gain greater awareness at all points in their care.
E-referral Portal:
E-Referral portal of Cellma fills the gap of communication among the healthcare providers by assuring that a patient gets a referral to the relevant specialists or services whenever he requires it. Thus, no delays in the care of a patient would be found. The entire pathway of care related to oncology would, therefore, be efficient and effective.
Cellma can transform your medical oncology department. There are many hindrances in managing patient records and coordinating treatment across multiple specialties in medical oncology departments, but with proper tools, like Cellma, the issues can be mitigated, making workflow more efficient and improved patient outcomes.
The complete module suite of Cellma will help oncology departments streamline their workflow, enhance communication, and ensure timely and personalised care to cancer patients.
Ready to revolutionise your medical oncology practice? Book a free demo today and see how Cellma can help you deliver the best care possible.
