Making National Cancer Institute-Designated Comprehensive Cancer Center Knowledge Accessible to Community Oncologists via an Online Tumor Board: Longitudinal Observational Study

Maitri Kalra; Elizabeth Henry; Kelly McCann; Meghan S Karuturi; Jean G Bustamante Alvarez; Amanda Parkes; Robert Wesolowski; Mei Wei; Sarah S Mougalian; Gregory Durm; Angel Qin; Caitlin Schonewolf; Meghna Trivedi; Avan J Armaghani; Frederick H Wilson; Wade T Iams; Anita A Turk; Praveen Vikas; Michael Cecchini; Sam Lubner; Priyadarshini Pathak; Kristen Spencer; Vadim S Koshkin; Matthew K Labriola; Catherine H Marshall; Katy E Beckermann; theMednet.org NCI-CCC Tumor Board Program Collaborative Group; Marina N Sharifi; Anthony C Bejjani; Varsha Hotchandani; Samir Housri; Nadine Housri

doi:10.2196/33859

Making National Cancer Institute-Designated Comprehensive Cancer Center Knowledge Accessible to Community Oncologists via an Online Tumor Board: Longitudinal Observational Study

JMIR Cancer. 2022 May 19;8(2):e33859. doi: 10.2196/33859.

Authors

Maitri Kalra¹, Elizabeth Henry², Kelly McCann³, Meghan S Karuturi⁴, Jean G Bustamante Alvarez⁵, Amanda Parkes⁶, Robert Wesolowski⁷, Mei Wei⁸, Sarah S Mougalian⁹, Gregory Durm¹⁰, Angel Qin¹¹, Caitlin Schonewolf¹¹, Meghna Trivedi¹², Avan J Armaghani¹³, Frederick H Wilson⁹, Wade T Iams¹⁴, Anita A Turk¹⁰, Praveen Vikas¹⁵, Michael Cecchini⁹, Sam Lubner⁶, Priyadarshini Pathak¹⁰, Kristen Spencer¹⁶, Vadim S Koshkin³, Matthew K Labriola¹⁷, Catherine H Marshall¹⁸, Katy E Beckermann¹⁴; theMednet.org NCI-CCC Tumor Board Program Collaborative Group¹⁹; Marina N Sharifi⁶, Anthony C Bejjani²⁰, Varsha Hotchandani¹⁹, Samir Housri¹⁹, Nadine Housri⁹

Collaborators

theMednet.org NCI-CCC Tumor Board Program Collaborative Group:
Hatem Soliman, Debasish Tripathy, Dawn L Hershman, Gregory A Otterson, Bhuvaneswari Ramaswamy, David Carbone, Shadia Jalal, Hanna Nasser, Kevin Kalinsky, Amye Tevaarwerk, Carlos H Barcenas, Wisinski Kari, Maryam Lustberg, Leora Horn, Katherine D Crew, Dwight H Owen, Bora Lim, Banu Arun, Parvin Peddi, Jill Lacy, Paul R Helft, Shirish Gadgeel, N Lynn Henry, Saundra S Buys, Anne Chiang, Naoto Ueno

Affiliations

¹ Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, Indiana University Health Ball Memorial Hospital, Fishers, IN, United States.
² Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine, Maywood, IL, United States.
³ Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, CA, United States.
⁴ Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, United States.
⁵ Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, United States.
⁶ Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, United States.
⁷ Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States.
⁸ Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, University of Utah, Utah City, UT, United States.
⁹ Department of Radiation/Oncology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States.
¹⁰ Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, United States.
¹¹ Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States.
¹² Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, Herbert-Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States.
¹³ Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, Moffitt Cancer Center University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, United States.
¹⁴ Division of Oncology, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States.
¹⁵ Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, United States.
¹⁶ Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, Rutgers University Cancer Institute of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, United States.
¹⁷ Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, Duke University, Durham, NC, United States.
¹⁸ Division of Oncology, Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States.
¹⁹ Mednet Inc, New York, NY, United States.
²⁰ Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, Veterans Health Administration Greater Los Angeles Health System, Los Angeles, CA, United States.

PMID: 35588361
PMCID: PMC9164098
DOI: 10.2196/33859

Abstract

Background: Expert knowledge is often shared among multidisciplinary academic teams at tumor boards (TBs) across the country, but these conversations exist in silos and do not reach the wider oncology community.

Objective: Using an oncologist-only question and answer (Q&A) website, we sought to document expert insights from TBs at National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers (NCI-CCCs) to provide educational benefits to the oncology community.

Methods: We designed a process with the NCI-CCCs to document and share discussions from the TBs focused on areas of practice variation on theMednet, an interactive Q&A website of over 13,000 US oncologists. The faculty translated the TB discussions into concise, non-case-based Q&As on theMednet. Answers were peer reviewed and disseminated in email newsletters to registered oncologists. Reach and engagement were measured. Following each Q&A, a survey question asked how the TB Q&As impacted the readers' practice.

Results: A total of 23 breast, thoracic, gastrointestinal, and genitourinary programs from 16 NCI-CCC sites participated. Between December 2016 and July 2021, the faculty highlighted 368 questions from their TBs. Q&As were viewed 147,661 times by 7381 oncologists at 3515 institutions from all 50 states. A total of 277 (75%) Q&As were viewed every month. Of the 1063 responses to a survey question on how the Q&A affected clinicians' practices, 646 (61%) reported that it confirmed their current practice, 163 (20%) indicated that a Q&A would change their future practice, and 214 (15%) reported learning something new.

Conclusions: Through an online Q&A platform, academics at the NCI-CCCs share knowledge outside the walls of academia with oncologists across the United States. Access to up-to-date expert knowledge can reassure clinicians' practices, significantly impact patient care in community practices, and be a source of new knowledge and education.

Keywords: NCI-CCC; National Cancer Institute–designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers; TBs; cancer; digital health; health education; health websites; knowledge sharing; oncology; tumor boards.

©Maitri Kalra, Elizabeth Henry, Kelly McCann, Meghan S Karuturi, Jean G Bustamante Alvarez, Amanda Parkes, Robert Wesolowski, Mei Wei, Sarah S Mougalian, Gregory Durm, Angel Qin, Caitlin Schonewolf, Meghna Trivedi, Avan J Armaghani, Frederick H Wilson, Wade T Iams, Anita A Turk, Praveen Vikas, Michael Cecchini, Sam Lubner, Priyadarshini Pathak, Kristen Spencer, Vadim S Koshkin, Matthew K Labriola, Catherine H Marshall, Katy E Beckermann, theMednet.org NCI-CCC Tumor Board Program Collaborative Group, Marina N Sharifi, Anthony C Bejjani, Varsha Hotchandani, Samir Housri, Nadine Housri. Originally published in JMIR Cancer (https://cancer.jmir.org), 19.05.2022.

Abstract

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