Patients with overactive bladder (OAB) become discouraged with medication therapy because of the side effects, minimal subjective improvement and costs of therapy. With the implementation of a patient navigation pathway there is increased communication, subsequently leading to increased patient retention rates and utilization of third-line therapies.
This was a quality improvement study carried out over a 17-month period comparing utilization of a navigation pathway versus patients without navigation. The data were obtained using an online database (PPS Analytics) to compare medication use, cystoscopy, urodynamic studies, use of third-line therapy, and return visits.
A total of 535 patients were included in the analysis and broken down into two respective groups. Group 1 were those placed on the navigation pathway and able to be reached via telephone (n = 431). Group 2 were those started on the navigation pathway who were not able to be reached via telephone, but were chart reviewed by a navigator (n = 104). Third-line therapy usage for groups 1 and 2 was 24% and 11% respectively. Return visits for additional OAB management for groups 1 and 2 were found to be 71% and 50% respectively.
Patient retention levels and utilization of third-line therapies are significantly improved when utilizing a navigation pathway. With 24% of the patients included in this study opting for third-line therapy, this represents a 600% increase in third-line therapies over national averages.
International urogynecology journal. 2019 Aug 28 [Epub ahead of print]
Matthew Rohloff, Gregg Peifer, Jannah H Thompson
Metro Health Hospital: University of Michigan Health Department of Urological Surgery, 5900 Byron Center Avenue, Wyoming, MI, 49519, USA. ., Metro Health Hospital: University of Michigan Health Department of Urological Surgery, 5900 Byron Center Avenue, Wyoming, MI, 49519, USA.
PubMed http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31463529