The Australian-focused cancer treatment protocol resource eviQ has become a highly valued and reliable support tool among local clinicians and its popularity has spread internationally, a survey suggests.
Endorsed nationally since 2012 as the preferred source of updated evidence-based and accessible cancer treatment information, the open-access eviQ website contains more than 1000 protocols as well as patient information covering medical oncology, haematology, blood and marrow transplant, radiation oncology and cancer genetics.
The Cancer Institute New South Wales conducted a mixed-method evaluation of eviQ between 2020 and 2022, which included a review of key program documentation and website usage data, and delivery of an online survey of users.
Findings showed that the website’s content increased by 15% from 1175 documents in 2019 to 1354 documents in 2022, reflecting the rapidly evolving cancer care landscape and the increasing number of new treatments. This emphasised the “critical need” for eviQ to support clinicians, the researchers said.
Total monthly users increased by 166% from 34,000 to 90,000 in 2018-2022.
The researchers also said that eviQ’s increasing international usage should be explored after identifying that 43% of annual users were from overseas compared with just 22% in 2018. This was despite the resource being developed for the Australian context and complying with its regulatory and reimbursement rules.
The top 10 countries using eviQ after Australia were the US (11% in 2022), New Zealand (5%), the UK (2.3%), Brazil (1.8%), Portugal (1.6%), India (1.5%), Canada (1.1%), Spain (0.9%), Vietnam (0.9%), and Italy (0.8%).
Most of the 466 survey responders – most of whom were clinicians such as nurses (48%), medical doctors (19%), pharmacists (12%), and allied health professionals (5%) – said they used eviQ for information on side effects/toxicity (67%).
Other reasons included to access patient treatment information (62%), for staff training and education purposes (55%), to refer to the evidence that supports a specific treatment protocol (54%) and in real time while treating a patient (51%).
Ninety-three percent of respondents either agreed or strongly agreed that eviQ contributed to both health professionals providing the best evidence-based treatment and care, and improving the standardisation of treatment and care.
They also believed the resource contributed to patients having improved health outcomes and improved quality of life (82% and 78% respectively).
Respondents also valued site accessibility, the rigorous content development process and the use of eviQ for education and patient information resources, although some suggested that the website navigation could be improved.
The findings were published in Asia-Pacific Journal of Clinical Oncology [link here].
Some of the authors worked on the eviQ program.