Key takeaways from the oncology world

Una Health recently exhibited at the Oncology Professional Care 2022, 24^th-25^th of May.

It was a great occasion to network and socialise with new and familiar faces across the oncology world. Being the first oncology expo for Una Health, we had the perfect opportunity to make some introductions and also gain a more in-depth understanding of the oncology industry.

At Una Health, we believe that near patient diagnostics can be a critical factor in improving the patient journey. According to BIVDA, 70% of all clinical decisions are influenced by diagnostics, so improving and speeding up results could have a significant impact on the patient journey. In doing this, we also strive to reduce pressure on healthcare professionals across all areas of medicine. That’s what Una Health is all about – taking an innovative approach to diagnostics.

As part of our ongoing commitment to keeping our customers and their patients at the heart of what we do, we conducted some market research tailored to oncology professionals directly involved in the chemotherapy pathway.

We aimed to better understand the current patient experience and chemotherapy pathway and also the challenges the clinicians are facing throughout the process.

Here’s a summary of our findings

When asked…

What is your current process of acquiring a Full Blood Count from a patient before chemotherapy?

we found out that:

• In 93% of the cases, the blood samples are being sent to the laboratory for results

• All the blood samples taken from the patients are venous draws and sometimes clinicians experience problems with the phlebotomy process

• The average waiting time for the results from the laboratory is between 1 to 2 hours, which is often a long waiting time for the patient waiting to start their chemo treatment

• In some cases, the laboratory rejects the blood tubes because of incorrect barcoding

• 17% of the sites interviewed have a point of care analyser for Full Blood Count, however, they are experiencing technical/maintenance problems with the device and end up sending the blood samples to the laboratory anyway

When asked…

What is the most common challenge you face when attending to a patient before chemotherapy?

we found out that:

• 85% of the clinicians are experiencing delays or facing problems with the long waiting time for the blood test results from busy laboratories

• 47% of the clinicians say that it is problematic obtaining a venous blood sample

• 58% of the clinicians are experiencing clinic delays

• In 31% of the cases, all 3 challenges are being encountered, which is proving very detrimental to the overall patient journey, especially in times of distress and also to the clinician attending to the patient.

Further reading:

Improving patient pathway in chemotherapy with innovative near-patient blood diagnostics