November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month. Recently we were able to interview Dr. Michael Gieske, the Director of Lung Cancer Screening and Physician Director of Virtual Health at St. Elizabeth Healthcare, about the topic. Dr. Gieske is passionate about raising awareness for lung cancer prevention and treatment. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in America. Dr. Gieske explained that lung cancer is the number one cancer killer in his home state of Kentucky. “I have seen a lot of patients and their families touched by lung cancer; it is such a devastating cancer because it is extremely aggressive. It moves quickly through the stages, and unfortunately, we usually do not find it until it is late in the stage of the disease. We find lung cancer about 50% of the time in stage four, and about 70 to 80% of the time in the late stages,” he said.

Patients diagnosed with the disease face the additional struggle of dealing with the stigma that exists about it, especially because many patients who are diagnosed with lung cancer are smokers or former smokers. “Nicotine is a very addictive chemical and for many years smoking was very fashionable. There is a certain sense even in the medical community, but certainly in the general community that smokers brought lung cancer upon themselves, and that if they get lung cancer, they deserve it. Nobody deserves lung cancer or really any tobacco-related diseases,” said Dr. Gieske. He explained that it is important to change the public perception of lung cancer. He expressed that although the public perception is negative about a lung cancer diagnosis, patients have a reason to feel more optimistic about their treatment if they receive one. "A lung cancer diagnosis is very different now. We are not only going after it and finding it earlier when the chance of survival in stage one can be greater than 90%, but even when we find lung cancer in the late stages, stage three and stage four, these patients are doing dramatically better than they did just five to 10 years ago,” he said.

He explained that patients of all stages are having better outcomes due to today’s treatment and screening options. “We’ve got patients now with stage three and stage four cancer that are walking around 15, 20 years later with no evidence of disease, and they probably have been cured,” he said.

Dr. Gieske expressed that new technology is a cause for hope when it comes to the disease. A new lung cancer screening test has been developed in recent years called the low-dose computed tomography (low-dose CT). This test gives doctors the ability to catch the disease in its early stages, where the chance for survival is much higher, and the likelihood of patients surviving 5 years or more is 60 percent. Dr. Gieske has led one of the most successful lung cancer screening initiatives in the country. As of September, of this year, his team in Kentucky has surpassed 28,000 low-dose CT screens, one of the top 4% of healthcare systems in the world. Dr. Gieske explained that when he was first asked to head up the thoracic oncology disease management team at St. Elizabeth’s Healthcare in 2016, he had to quickly get educated about the new treatment and screening options that were available. “I had no idea what they were talking about when they started talking about low-dose CT lung cancer screening, and I had never heard of it before. A landmark study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine in August of 2011, that really put lung cancer screening on the map,” he said.

He explained that although the test had been around for many years before the study was published, primary care physicians were not being taught about low-dose CT scans and these doctors were really the first line of defense in catching the disease early. “You know, we were not even taught to do lung cancer screenings, even though it has been around for more than 15 years, and it has changed a lot over the last several years. Lung cancer screening has been slow to catch on, partially because of the stigma and partially because of the nihilism,” he said.

“It's all about communication and education and it's not only for patients but for providers as well,” said Dr. Gieske. The combination of advanced communication, education, and technology is making a dramatic impact in the fight against lung cancer. Another type of technology that is being used to aid in the fight is patient engagement technology, such as Journey PX.

Linda Robinson, the Vice President of Clinical Excellence at MDM Healthcare explained how Journey PX’s patient engagement solutions allow patients to become more empowered through health literacy. “Only 12% of adults in the country are health literate. When we have patients within our care in the hospital, we have a captive audience, and we really must educate them. It put patients back into the driver's seat,” she said.

Hospitals today are using innovative patient engagement technology to elevate their patient experience. Recently we sat down with Linda Robinson, the Vice President of Clinical Excellence at MDM Healthcare to share some insights on the topic based on her 35 years of experience in nursing, patient- and family-centered care, and patient engagement technology. Robinson explained that there are several ways this technology supports hospitals in their quest to provide an exemplary patient experience. “Research tells us that patients want courtesy and the ability to participate in their care. Generally, there are three integrated areas to focus on when it comes to patient experience: quality, safety, and service,” she said. Robinson noted that many organizations use a framework of empathy to guide their patient experience strategies. She also stressed the importance of the four core principles outlined by The Institute of Patient and Family-Centered Care. These are respect and dignity, information sharing, participation, and collaboration.

Listening to patients' most pressing concerns is another way to ensure they will have a better day. Robinson addressed how patient engagement technology can solve a list of common patient complaints compiled by the Patient and Family Advisory Council at the Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality at Johns Hopkins.

Calming content is part of a holistic approach to patient care, which addresses the complex spiritual, physical, social, and emotional needs of the patient further humanizing their care experience. An article published in the National Library of Medicine titled, Optimal Healing Environments reveals that calming content leads to more positive outcomes for patients. It states, “creating a healing space, one that evokes feelings of serenity, calm, and relaxation, can contribute to an environment that facilitates the innate healing process—a process of repair, recovery, and return to wholeness in mind, body, and spirit.”

Recently, we spoke with Amy Gordon-Fisher, Founder and CEO of Medcalm, a content partner at MDM Healthcare. Medcalm is an innovative company dedicated to bringing sound healing and relaxation programs to people wherever needed. Medcalm services hundreds of hospitals nationwide and is one of the premier audio/visual wellness solution providers worldwide. The Journey PX solution My Stay includes Medcalm’s calming and relaxation tools, which support a holistic approach to patient care.

“Amy has been a wealth of information and assistance in my practice as a clinician and a leader when it comes to providing a relaxing, therapeutic environment for patients and families in all settings, hospitals, treatment areas, clinics, waiting rooms, you name it, she has put calming content there. We take care of patients in a very clinical matter, but it is oftentimes initiatives like this, the calming content, that really helps provide patients and their families with peace of mind and helps them relax, which promotes healing,” stated Linda Robinson MSN, BSN, RN, the Vice President of Clinical Excellence at MDM Healthcare.

Gordon-Fisher explained that she started Medcalm 20 years ago while she was experiencing her mother's walk-through pancreatic cancer. “When we took her for her treatments, the front of the office was beautiful, however, the area where she was getting treatment was dismal. There was nothing comforting inside the patient’s treatment areas and many people were alone. I thought that this was not a very healthy environment for cancer patients trying to get better. I thought that there must be something better,” she said. Gordon-Fisher explained that she started the company because she believed her work in guided imagery and mindfulness meditation would help elevate the hospital environment and began creating a series of relaxing video and audio programs. She explained that once companies such as MDM Healthcare saw what she was doing, they began partnering with her to help put this content into hospitals and patient rooms.