Clinicians Report Barriers and Facilitators to High-Quality Ambulatory Oncology Care

Ambulatory oncology practices treat thousands of Americans on a daily basis with high-risk and high-cost antineoplastic agents. However, we know relatively little about these diverse practices and the organizational structures influencing care delivery.

The aim of this study was to examine clinician-reported factors within ambulatory oncology practices that affect care delivery processes and outcomes for patients and clinicians.

Survey data were collected in 2017 from 298 clinicians (nurses, physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants) across 29 ambulatory practices in Michigan. Clinicians provided written comments about favorable and unfavorable aspects of their work environments that affected their ability to deliver high-quality care. We conducted inductive content analysis and used the Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety work system model to organize and explain our findings.

Clinicians reported factors within all 5 work-system components of the Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety model that affected care delivery and outcomes. Common themes surfaced, such as unfavorable aspects including staffing inadequacy and high patient volume, limited physical space, electronic health record usability issues, and order entry. Frequent favorable aspects focused on the skills of colleagues, collaboration, and teamwork. Some clinicians explicitly reported how work system factors were relational and influenced patient, clinician, and organizational outcomes.

These findings show how work-system components are interactive and relational reflecting the complex nature of care delivery.

Data obtained from frontline clinicians can support leaders in making organizational changes that are congruent with clinician observations of practices' strengths and opportunities for improvement.