Effective methods of organizing complex information in advanced cancer patients

: Advanced cancer patients often present with variable clinical information documenting widespread lesions and treatment histories. For health care providers, organizing and managing this information is crucial. In our ambulatory and home palliative/ hospice care practice, two visual tools are used: 1 ) a one-page line diagram which shows the Edmonton Labeled Visual Information System (ELVIS) and a schematic demarcation of dermatomes shown as distinct segments, and 2 ) a one-page summary report containing various graphs displaying the transition of clinical variables which appear to be predictive of survival. These concise visual representations of cancer information can be beneficial for summarizing or reviewing the disease and its clinical course, and in the transfer of patient information to other institutions. They may also serve as an aid to improve information recall in cancer patients, as well as to provide both the patients and their caregivers with information about cancer trajectories so that they can set appropriate goals, priorities, and expectations of care.