1st Oncology Quality Care Symposium. Towards Excellence in Oncology Care

by Jessica Herráiz, November 20, 2019

The “1st Oncology Quality Care Symposium”, with the presence of Persei vivarium, was held in Madrid on 15-16th November. This event took place thanks to the ECO Foundation (Foundation for Excellence and Quality in Oncology), which brought together the top national and international leaders about cancer approach, in order to share strategies and methods for improving oncology patients’ care.

ECO Foundation, on behalf of ASCO, has made possible this symposium in Spain, being one of the most collaborative countries in obtaining the seal of oncology quality, QOPI (Quality Oncology Practice Initiative). In Spain, 6 hospitals have already achieved this certification, endorsing its efforts to improve healthcare received by oncology patients, particularly reducing waiting times, improving provided service during appointments and continuous upgrading of personnel training.

In this way, the meeting was about knowing what is understood by quality care and which are the best practices to implement patient-centered care, as well as knowing the current situation we are engaged in the country, in order to detect possible improving areas. According to Arif Kamal M.D. (Duke Cancer Center – Durham, North Carolina): “It is important to measure quality in everyday clinical practice to be able to increase positive results in patients”.

On the other hand, existing challenges of the area were introduced. These challenges are still: access to treatment equity, psychological patient care improvement, and finally, the need to have reliable clinical data available about the disease at a national level. This was precisely highlighted by some participants who also talked about the lack of a national cancer patients registry and the need to get it started in order to have secure and quality information.

It is a great opportunity for us to attend events like this, since we are currently engaged in the development of onQos—a very interesting project of the oncology field.

We want to congratulate ECO Foundation for hosting and holding the “1st Oncology Quality care Symposium”. Events like this allow us to know the latest information provided by oncology experts, to proceed with strategies development, which enable us to help specialists to improve oncology patient quality care; and therefore, and most importantly, the patient’s quality of life.

#ASCO #ECOQLTY19 #Oncology