Patient-reported experience in lung and breast cancer through a patient journey

To analyse a patient journey based on the experience reported by  breast and lung cancer patients at Spanish hospital. Method: A mixed design was used, with interviews with 16 health  professionals and 25 patients (qualitative method) and a Net Promoter Score questionnaire to 127 patients (quantitative method).

oncology patients > 18 years treated in hospital between February-  May 2019.

paediatric patients, in palliative care or who were  hospitalised at the time of the study.

Six phases were identified from the data obtained in the qualitative method: my life before diagnosis; discovery; initiation; treatment;  followup; and my current life. In the my life before diagnosis phase, a  functional level of experience was established, as patients' lives met their  expectations. In the discovery phase, patients' expectations were observed to  be met, although several satellite experiences were found. In the initiation  phase, the experience tended to be negative due to long waiting times and  emotional and physical stress. The treatment phase was defined as a basic- poor experience, due to waiting times and lack of institutional support. The  experience in the follow-up phase was positive in terms of tests and visits, but  critical points were observed in waiting times. In the current phase, the effort  made by health professionals to ensure the best possible treatment and care  was mentioned. In terms of quantitative analysis, a positive score (46%) was obtained for the Net Promoter Score indicator, as 60% of patients were promoters, i.e. they were satisfied with the service offered by the hospital.

This study provides insight into the experience of cancer patients in the six main stages of the disease. The most positive phases were "my life before diagnosis" and "follow-up" while the phases with a negative trend were "initiation" and "treatment" due to the waiting times  and the emotional burden on the patient.