Accurate Documentation Contributes to Guideline-concordant Surveillance of Nonmuscle Invasive Bladder Cancer: A Multisite Department of Veterans Affairs Study.

Lyall V, Ould Ismail AA, Haggstrom DA, Issa MM, Siddiqui MM, Tosoian J, Schroeck FR. Accurate Documentation Contributes to Guideline-concordant Surveillance of Nonmuscle Invasive Bladder Cancer: A Multisite Department of Veterans Affairs Study. Urology. 2023 Nov 1; 181:92-97.

Related HSR&D Project(s)

• IIR 18-215 – Implementing Risk-aligned Bladder Cancer Surveillance

Dimensions for VA is a web-based tool available to VA staff that enables detailed searches of published research and research projects.

If you have VA-Intranet access, click here for more information vaww.hsrd.research.va.gov/dimensions/

VA staff not currently on the VA network can access Dimensions by registering for an account using their VA email address.    Search Dimensions for VA for this citation
* Don't have VA-internal network access or a VA email address? Try searching the free-to-the-public version of Dimensions

Search for Abstract from PubMed

---

Abstract:

OBJECTIVE: To determine if accurate documentation of bladder cancer risk was associated with a clinician surveillance recommendation that is concordant with AUA guidelines among patients with nonmuscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). METHODS: We prospectively collected data from cystoscopy encounter notes from four Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) sites to ascertain whether they included accurate documentation of bladder cancer risk and a recommendation for a guideline-concordant surveillance interval. Accurate documentation was a clinician-recorded risk classification matching a gold standard assigned by the research team. Clinician recommendations were guideline-concordant if the clinician recorded a surveillance interval that was in line with the AUA guideline. RESULTS: Among 296 encounters, 75 were for low-, 98 for intermediate-, and 123 for high-risk NMIBC. 52% of encounters had accurate documentation of NMIBC risk. Accurate documentation of risk was less common among encounters for low-risk bladder cancer (36% vs 52% for intermediate- and 62% for high-risk, P  <  .05). Guideline-concordant surveillance recommendations were also less common in patients with low-risk bladder cancer (67% vs 89% for intermediate- and 94% for high-risk, P  <  .05). Accurate documentation was associated with a 29% and 15% increase in guideline-concordant surveillance recommendations for low- and intermediate-risk disease, respectively (P  <  .05). CONCLUSION: Accurate risk documentation was associated with more guideline-concordant surveillance recommendations among low- and intermediate-risk patients. Implementation strategies facilitating assessment and documentation of risk may be useful to reduce overuse of surveillance in this group and to prevent unnecessary cost, anxiety, and procedural harms.