Feasibility of a quality improvement strategy integrating psychosocial care into 28 medical cancer centers (HuCare project)

This study examines the development and feasibility of a quality improvement strategy for the translation of evidence-based psychosocial care into clinical practice. The project involved all staff (oncologists, psychologists, and nurses) of the participating centers. Recommendations concerned: improvement of clinician communication skills; use of a patient question prompt list; assignment of a specialist nurse to each patient; screening for psychological distress and social needs; opportunity to attend a Point of Information and Support. The implementation strategy hinged on context analysis and problem solving. Four to six visits were held in each center by the project team to assist staff in identifying obstacles, finding solutions, and strengthening motivation. The primary variable was the adherence percentage to the recommendations (proportion of subjects receiving each intervention). The number of centers that failed to reach the objective was also reported (adherence percentage