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September 5, 2025Open Access

46 Nursing Led Phone Clinic for Patients During the One-Month Period Between Concurrent Chemoradiotherapy and Adjuvant Treatment: A Pilot Project

Key Points

The implementation of a phone clinic led to significant emotional and medical interventions for patients post-chemoradiation.
Weekly evaluations showed 18 patients engaged, with interventions such as medication adjustments and referrals to social services.
In a six-week review, medical interventions prevented acute care visits for many patients, underscoring the importance of timely nursing support.
Further research is necessary to quantify the benefits of nursing-led interventions during the transition from chemoradiation to adjuvant therapy.

Abstract

Abstract Brain Cancer Canada Travel Award Recipient BACKGROUND After concurrent chemoradiation for a high-grade glioma patients will typically have a one-month break before commencing adjuvant chemotherapy. During this time, patients will wean off steroids and recover from acute toxicity of treatment. Our clinical team observed that many patients were having a significant decline in physical or emotional wellbeing. Often the decrease in function would lead to a delay in starting adjuvant therapy. We hypothesized that a phone appointment with our CNS nursing team would allow treatments to be implemented to prevent performance status decline by treating or triaging medical needs, refer appropriately for social needs and encourage physical wellbeing. METHODS After a one-year preliminary phase we investigated the clinic by reviewing all charts in the clinic for the 6-week period of July 31, 2024 to September 4, 2024. We evaluated the number of patients in this clinic weekly. We evaluated all interventions in clinic. This included medical interventions and social/emotional interventions. RESULTS One CNS nurse was placed in this clinic ½ day a week. 3 Patients were seen weekly (range 2-6) 18 patients in total 4 patient had minor medication adjustments (with informing of primary physician team) 2 patients had major medical intervention (with support of primary physician team and ED) 4 patients had referral for social /emotional well being DISCUSSION The period after chemoradiation and before adjuvant chemotherapy for patients with high grade gliomas represents a dynamic medical period. By providing a planned touch point with the cancer centre, we were able to intervene with medical and social / emotional interventions in the majority of patients. Many of these interventions prevented patients from presenting to acute care (ED, urgent care) or delay of adjuvant therapy. Further prospective studies are needed to better define this benefit.

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