What Are the Challenges and Facilitators for Implementing a 24-Hour Telephone Cancer Service in Qatar? A Literature Review.

OBJECTIVE: To identify the challenges and facilitators for implementing a 24-h telephone cancer service.

DATA SOURCES: English language articles were retrieved from Medline, Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature, and Ovid Nursing electronic databases published from 2000 to 2015.

STUDY DESIGN: The authors performed an integrative literature review. The qualitative and quantitative articles were evaluated using the Critical Appraisal Skills Program. All mixed-methods articles were evaluated using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. Thematic analyses were used to synthesize the findings from the included articles.

FINDINGS: The literature of this review highlights the complexity of the decisions that accompany the consideration of implementing a teleoncology in Qatar. The literature review detailed challenges and facilitators for implementing 24-h call service for cancer patients. These were grouped as human, technology, documentary tools, and organizational domains. The core concept that integrates each of these domains is communication.

CONCLUSIONS: If the telephone triage is to be implemented in National Center for Cancer Care and Research (NCCCR), more research is needed about the characteristics of cancer patients in Qatar. A more robust understanding of this population will inform decisions about the utility of developing a teleoncology service at NCCCR.