As COVID-19 cases continue to rise, hospitals are faced with a growing backlog of patients in need of lung screening. As a Lung Navigator at Decatur Memorial Hospital, Jeri Ann Higgins navigates patients through the lung cancer screening program. In a webinar hosted during Lung Cancer Awareness Month 2020, Higgins shared best practices for increasing lung screenings and early cancer detection rates during these unprecedented times. Lauren Reilly, Lung Specialist for Volpara Health, hosted the discussion.
Here are some key takeaways from the November 19 webinar:
- Technology like Volpara’s Aspen Lung helps Decatur Memorial Hospital track their growing number of patients, as well as speed ACR reporting so specialists like Higgins have more time to interact with their patients
- Aspen Lung is essential in minimizing screening appointment delays during the pandemic, by allowing staff to automate tasks like generating reminder letters
- Personalizing these reminder letters with information about the hospital’s new safety procedures prompted by COVID-19 proved successful in encouraging patients’ return to the screening program
- Lung screening is a tool for observing some of the effects of COVID-19, and Aspen Lung provides the ability to document COVID-19-related deaths in patient profiles
- Screening programs should not be shut down completely, though they should be modified to ensure patient safety
Working through the pandemic is a learning process for all health care professionals. Let us know what you enjoyed learning from this webinar, and what other lung screening topics you would like to learn about in future webinars. Have questions about Volpara’s lung software? Contact our lung consultants at info@volparahealth.com.
To watch the full webinar, click the link below.
