The Effect of Using Regional Cooperation Critical Pathway for Cancer Patients

We conducted a questionnaire survey of cancer patients and medical institutions to examine the usage status and problems of the regional cooperation critical pathway (cooperation path). In a survey of medical institutions, 65% of respondents said that using a cooperation path was beneficial, which was a significant increase from the previous survey in 2014. According to a survey on workload, about 30% of doctors felt that the workload increased in 2018 as well as in 2014. On the other hand, hospital profits increased at twice as many medical institutions compared to 2014. According to surveys of cancer patients, 80% of patients said that they were happy to use the cooperation path. However, a small percentage of patients disagreed with the use of the cooperation path. In this questionnaire survey, it was found that not only doctors but also patients understand the merits of the cooperation path.