20.500.12556/DiRROS-22538 Unravelling the lung cancer diagnostic pathway identifying gaps and opportunities for improvement Razkrivanje diagnostične poti pljučnega raka Background A fast and well-organized complex diagnostic process is important for better success in the treatment of lung cancer patients. The aim of our study was to reveal the gaps and inefficiencies in the diagnostic process and to suggest improvement strategies in a single tertiary centre in Slovenia. Patients and methods We employed a comprehensive approach to carefully dissect all the steps in the diagnostic journey for individuals suspected of having lung cancer. We gathered and analysed information from employees and patients involved in the process by dedicated questionnaires. Further, we analysed the patients’ data and calculated the diagnostic intervals for patients in two different periods. Results The major concerns among employees were stress and excessive administrative work. The important result of the visual journey and staff reports was the design of electronic diagnostic clinical pathway (eDCP), which could substantially increase safety and efficacy by diminishing the administrative burden of the employees. The patients were generally highly satisfied with diagnostic journey, but reported too long waiting times. By analysing two time periods, we revealed that diagnostic intervals exceeded the recommended timelines and got importantly shorter after two interventions - strengthening the diagnostic team and specially by purchase of additional PET-CT machine (the average time from general practitioner (GP) referral to the multidisciplinary treatment board (MDTB) decision was 50.8 [± 3.0] prior and 37.1 [± 2.3] days after the interventions). Conclusions The study illuminated opportunities for refining the diagnostic journey for lung cancer patients, underscoring the importance of both administrative and capacity-related enhancements. lung cancer diagnostic pathway improvement diagnostična pot izboljšave pljučni rak true false true Slovenian Medical Society - Section of Radiology; Croatian Medical Association - Croatian Society of Radiology Radiology and oncology Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik © 2024 Mateja Marc Malovrh et al., published by Sciendo This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Neznano 2025-06-02 10:19:05 2025-06-02 10:19:05 2025-10-24 03:51:29 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2024 0 0 str. 268-278, XI no. 2 Vol. 58 Jun. 2024 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno apc 2023-12-18 2024-01-20 2024-04-14 616.24 1318-2099 10.2478/raon-2024-0025 193867011 https://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/raon-2024-0025 1 412bffca-3f8a-11f0-963a-001a4af901a5 https://dirros.openscience.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=32584 RAZ_Marc-Malovrh_Mateja_2024.pdf RAZ_Marc-Malovrh_Mateja_2024.pdf 1 449DA5048C4EFF681498A5E57BEE4E4C 8d1b43074c84b801843b10ae124bd9fc7b3d55ee79e3b6e3d55e10e2bd8ab20f af56d33b-3f8b-11f0-963a-001a4af901a5 https://dirros.openscience.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=32586 Univerzitetna klinika za pljučne bolezni in alergijo Golnik 0 0 0