D3.6 _ Care pathway in the 3 trial countries

This deliverable describes the care pathways currently followed by older cancer patients with multi-morbidities in the 16 trial sites in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, from diagnosis to follow-up.

The analysis of the as-is care pathway as been conducted through semi-structured interviews in each trial site with key, relevant stakeholders, namely oncologists, geriatricians, APNs/nurses, and data managers. An interview outline was drafted and followed systematically, to collect coherent responses across centers. All interviews were recorded and transcribed. Overall, 39 interviews were conducted. Evidence of the interviews were processed under several dimensions, including but not limited to organizational context, health care professionals involved, multidisciplinarity, spaces and organization of the activities. The analyses highlighted high variability in the process of care of older, multimorbid patients with cancer as dominant morbidity across countries and across centers.

The analysis of the as-is care pathway was instrumental to the later-to-be-performed task of conducting an economic evaluation of the Geronte model and to design new care pathway for the management of multimorbid patients.