Postoperative histology discussion in the colorectal multidisciplinary team: requirement for the colorectal nurse specialist

Abstract

Background: COVID-19-related workforce absences have led to shortages of frontline healthcare staff. The colorectal nursing unit at Lincoln County Hospital was short-staffed for a few months due to the pandemic. This led to a change in the system of flagging postoperative histology results to the colorectal cancer multidisciplinary team (MDT) meeting. Data for patients during this period were studied to assess if this led to delays in MDT discussion. Methods: Data were extracted from a prospectively maintained database for all colorectal cancer patients undergoing resection surgery from 1 April 2021 to 31 July 2021. Data collected included: date of surgery, operation notes, histology results and date of postoperative MDT discussion. The time interval between date of surgery and date of MDT discussion was tabulated from this data. Results: Out of 98 patients identified on the database, 76 were included in this study. Eight (11%) of these patients did not have their histology results discussed in a timely fashion in the colorectal MDT. Four out of these eight subsequently required adjuvant therapy (chemotherapy or radiotherapy). Conclusion: There was a delay in discussion of postoperative histology in the colorectal MDT due to the change of pathway. This highlights the important role of the colorectal nurse specialists (CNSs) in the overall management of colorectal cancer patients. This article highlights the need to avoid burdening the CNS with tasks that can easily be completed by implementing advanced electronic MDT reporting systems.