Medscape, which provides medical news, drug and disease information and education for physicians and healthcare professionals, has created a new tool to assist oncologists in navigating new data and treatment guidelines.
Dubbed Oncology Decision Point, the offering combines the latest advances in care, evidence-based recommendations and insights from experts via videos.
Medscape has launched the beta Oncology Decision Point tool for lung cancer, which is accessible to selected Medscape members through a dedicated website.
Later this year, the organization will fully launch Oncology Decision Point to all Medscape members. At that time, it will include all major cancer types as well as extra features.
Going forward, Medscape plans to expand Decision Point offering to other specialties like neurology, cardiology and family practice/internal medicine.
In responses to emailed questions, Medscape group vice president of product and design/UX Helen Moran described how an oncologist might use the tool.
On the Medscape Oncology Decision Point landing page, physicians can select the cancer type and tumor type, then click start. Oncologists can examine all the content related to their search or refine their search by picking a stage and biomarkers. Next, they can look at the results to find information about targeted treatments, drug therapies, surgical options, immunotherapy and palliative care.
By clicking on an expert video, oncologists can learn about contributors’ real-world experience. “Whether the expert is bringing the guidelines to life with their own color commentary, or even addressing cutting-edge topics that lead the guidelines, the tone is informal and informative,” Moran said.
Physicians can also use the tool to explore clinical guideline excerpts from the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the European Society for Medical Oncology.
Moran also explained the impetus behind developing the tool.
“More than half of all U.S. oncologists use Medscape, and many of them communicated a need for more streamlined, responsive clinical decision tools that curate the high volume of new data and treatment guidelines while offering expert perspective on their impact on day-to-day practice,” she said.
Photo: mathisworks, Getty Images
