Clinician nudge to gynecologic oncology referral at suspected ovarian cancer diagnosis: a pilot study

The problem: Only 2 out of 3 patients with ovarian cancer ever see a gynecologic oncologist.


The intervention: The team wanted to test the feasibility of an electronic health record-based nudge to clinicians that alerted them when imaging showed a high-risk ovarian mass and included a ready-to-sign referral order for gynecologic oncology.

Results:

• 30% of clinicians said the nudge changed their referral behavior

• The referral rate increased by a historic baseline of 61% to 75%

• The percentage of patients who underwent surgery for complex adnexal mases with gynecologic oncologists increased from 82% to 92%

• 1 in 4 patients in the pilot were diagnosed with early-stage cancer

What’s next: The team is running a follow-up randomized control trial; details are here.