Lung Cancer Screening: An Evidence-Based Practice Change Project

Practice Problem: Lung cancer is the leading cause of global cancer deaths and is a significant health issue in the US, claiming more than 155,000 lives each year. Lung cancer screening through low dose computed tomography (LDCT) can reduce lung cancer mortality by 20 percent but unfortunately, lung cancer screening is underutilized. PICOT Question: The PICOT question that guided this project was: in a patient population eligible for LDCT lung screening (P), how does auditing of practice with feedback to the providers (I), compared to not doing the interventions as mentioned above (C), increase LDCT lung cancer screenings in the identified population (O), in an eight-week period (T)? Evidence: A thorough literature review was conducted to determine if audit and feedback is an evidence-based strategy for increasing cancer screening rates. The literature review produced ample evidence supporting audit and feedback as an effective strategy for significantly increasing cancer screening rates. Intervention: A lung cancer screening audit tool with essential elements for determining patient eligibility for LDCT lung cancer screening was created for this project, and the face validity of the audit tool was obtained. During the project’s intervention and evaluation phase, each audit tool submitted was analyzed for completeness, and performance feedback was given to the clinic’s providers on a weekly basis. Outcome: Although Chi-Square analysis did not show statistical significance, the number of LDCT lung cancer screening scans nearly doubled during the intervention phase compared to the baseline phase of the project. Conclusion: The continued usage of the lung cancer screening audit and feedback tool is recommended for increasing the number of LDCT lung cancer screenings.