Abstract
Purpose
High-risk breast pathology is a breast cancer risk factor for which timely treatment is crucial. Nurse navigation programs have been implemented to minimize delays in patient care. This study evaluated nurse navigation in terms of timeliness to surgery for patients with high-risk breast pathology.
Methods
This was a single-institution, retrospective review of patients with identified high-risk breast pathology undergoing lumpectomy between January 2017 and June 2019. Patients were stratified into cohorts based on periods with and without nurse navigation. Preoperative and postoperative time to care as well as demographic and tumor characteristics were compared using univariate and multivariate analysis.
Results
100 patients had assigned nurse navigators and 29 patients did not. Nurse navigation was associated with reduced time from referral to date of surgery (DOS) by 16.9 days (p = 0.003). Patients > 75 years had a shorter time to first appointment (p = 0.03), and patients with Medicare insurance had a reduced time from referral to DOS (p = 0.005). 20% of all patients were upstaged to cancer on final surgical pathology.
Conclusion
Nurse navigation was significantly associated with decreased time to care for patients with high-risk breast pathology undergoing lumpectomy. We recommend nurse navigation programs as part of a comprehensive approach for patients with high-risk breast pathology.
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Data Availability
The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Catherine Chung MD, Catherine Barker, Rupak Mukherjee PhD, Julie Siegel MD, and Andrea Abbott MD. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Catherine Chung and Catherine Barker and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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This is an observational study. The IRB of the Medical University of South Carolina has confirmed that no ethical approval is required.
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Barker, C.S., Chung, C.W., Mukherjee, R. et al. The impact of nurse navigation on timeliness to treatment for benign high-risk breast pathology. Breast Cancer Res Treat 202, 129–137 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-023-07049-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-023-07049-0