Transforming Cancer Care: Reflecting on the Launch of Carevive STAIRS? Clinical Decision Support System

In February 2023, Carevive launched the commercialization of their cancer symptom management pathways. These pathways were developed through the generous support of a multi-million-dollar Phase I/II Small Business Innovations Research contract funded by the National Cancer Institute. This product took over five years to develop, test, and pilot with input from an international panel of cancer symptom experts. Phase I was awarded by the NCI in 2018, and Phase II in 2020.?

In a momentous event at the #AONNAnnual23 conference, Carevive, alongside their esteemed partners from Charleston Area Medical Center (CAMC), a pilot site for Carevive STAIRS?, proudly introduced their revolutionary clinical decision support system, Carevive STAIRS?, to the oncology community. This unveiling marked a milestone in advancing care delivery within the field of oncology.

This year at the #NCODA 2024 Spring Forum, the Carevive and CAMC teams reunited with other oncology professionals to share about their use of the clinical decision support tool for oncology symptoms management.

"We believe that this endeavor to improve cancer care and enhance patient outcomes, among countless others, serves as an inspiration to many of us impacted by cancer and those working tirelessly in the field," said April Boyd, RN, BSN, OCN, Carevive's Clinical Product Manager. You can read more about the research here.

What is Carevive STAIRS? (Symptom Triage, Assessment, Intervention, and Response System)?

Carevive STAIRS? are the first-ever computerized cancer symptom management pathways that, when combined with Carevive PROmpt?, enable cancer care teams to proactively identify and mitigate symptom-based urgent and nonurgent clinical problems before they lead to treatment holds, treatment discontinuations, or hospitalizations, and negatively impact treatment outcomes.

A few proven benefits of Carevive STAIRS?:

? Directly supports nurses in educating patients with evidence-based recommendations for symptom care.

? Decrease the workload of APPs so they can focus on the patients who need their attention the most.

? Enhances communication with patients at home and provides visibility to even the mildest of symptoms so the care team can intervene sooner using evidence-based pathways to avoid symptoms becoming severe and requiring additional specialized care.

The beta installation is now complete, and CAMC observed significant improvements in efficiencies and enhanced support for value-based care through the implementation of Carevive STAIRS?. Here’s what they had to say:

“Carevive STAIRS? is exactly what we need to be more closely connected to patients. All administrators should love this product. Everyone is focusing on how technology can advance practice, save providers, nurses, and patients time, thus improving patient, nurse, and provider satisfaction, and support value-based payment models. Our nurses, providers, and patients all see value in this technology.”

-Carrie Wines-Larch, RN, CAMC Director, Patient Navigation

“Working with the Carevive STAIRS? project was a totally innovative experience for our navigation team. Years of experience with phone messages resulting in patient call-backs was a very "entrenched" practice which was, at first, difficult to overcome. However, the navigation team was pleasantly surprised to see that weekly notifications received by patients actually helped improve the consistency of caring for patients. In many cases, what may have been seen as a symptom which the patient would not have viewed as important enough to call, was caught early through weekly reporting. This reporting often avoided a much more serious side effect or condition. To our surprise, the team found that patients were more willing than first thought to report in a text or email how they were doing. In several instances, patients even reported that they felt more "connected" to the cancer center team through the weekly reporting. Our team came away from the pilot project with an understanding of how Carevive can improve the efficacy of care and support value-based outcomes in our cancer patients.”

-Karin Ritchie, RN, Oral Chemotherapy Navigator

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“The Carevive STAIRS? project helped the communication process with our patients.? The patients that you would call " hard to reach", were the ones that responded the best to the symptom monitoring surveys and to the assessment level that was offered through the stairs pathways.? It gave the patient an opportunity to take control of symptom reporting in a more efficient manner and to provide real-time education and instruction.”

-Lori Russell, RN,?BSN,?OCN, Survivorship and Navigation Coordinator

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"STAIRS allowed the clinical team to review and assess our patients' reported symptoms in a timely and efficient manner.? The weekly symptoms surveys allowed patients to be more connected with their clinical team.? Allowing them to feel empowered by being more involved in their care.? Most importantly, this allows us, the clinical team, to provide our patients with a better quality of life.? By catching symptoms earlier on and providing them with interventions to manage their symptoms is crucial in their journey.? A project that is very much needed for our patient population."

-Emma Michelle Gilham, RN, BSN, Clinical Nurse III, Nurse Navigator