Adapting Evidence-Based Cancer Control Programs for the Emergency Department

Emergency departments (EDs) serve as a safety net for many underserved patients and have the potential to reach patients of disproportionate need for preventive health measures such as cancer screening. Despite the wealth of cancer screening and prevention work performed in other clinical and community settings, and the potential positive impact of cancer screening and prevention interventions involving the ED, there is a paucity of research on this topic. Certainly, the unpredictable nature of the ED presents a unique clinical context that demands strategic and tailored approaches to implementing cancer screening programs.

We convened 5 expert emergency physicians and researchers to critically evaluate the adaptability of several best practice models for breast cancer screening from the National Cancer Institute's Evidence-Based Cancer Control Programs (EBCCP) list to the ED setting. To spur the development of cancer screening programs in the ED, this article summarizes the content of EBCCP website, lists principles for ED screening, describes the application of a scoring method to breast cancer screening programs and subsequent scoring results, and discusses possible implementation strategies.

The EBCCP website is well-organized and searchable and thus provides implementation advocates with foundational resources to build upon. Stakeholders can consider adapting or combining parts of these interventions for the populations they serve.

We encourage emergency medicine (EM) leaders to adapt evidence-based cancer screening and prevention interventions for use in the ED, as they have the potential to fill knowledge gaps, reach underserved patients, and ultimately improve cancer health equity.