Fighting Back Against Cancer Complications: Cdc's Preventing Infections in Cancer Patients Campaign

Background: 

Every year, 60,000 cancer patients are hospitalized for chemotherapy-induced neutropenia and infections;  one patient dies every two hours from this complication.  Compounding this issue, over 650,000 patients each year receive treatment in an outpatient oncology setting where infections from community and healthcare settings remain a challenge. Unfortunately, there is a lack of consistency in adherence to infection control guidelines in many of these facilities and patients may be unaware of neutropenia and its risks. 

Program background:  To address this public health concern, an innovative partnership was formed between CDC, the CDC Foundation, and Amgen®. The team developed Preventing Infections in Cancer Patients, a powerful campaign providing patients, families, and healthcare professionals with tools designed to help reduce the risk of life-threatening infections during a cancer patient’s chemotherapy treatment. 

Evaluation Methods and Results:  To help inform the campaign development, CDC conducted an environmental scan, 11 focus groups, and in-depth phone interviews with individuals responsible for infection control in outpatient oncology settings. CDC assembled a team of experts in the fields of oncology, infection control, nursing, and patient advocacy who served as technical advisers on the program development. Research determined the need for improved and consistent infection control practices and for user-friendly resources to help patients better understand their risk of infection. Based on these insights,  CDC developed two key tools for clinicians and patients:

1. A Basic Infection Control and Prevention Plan for Outpatient Oncology Settings which includes key policies and procedures that will ensure a facility meets or exceeds minimal expectations of patient safety.
2. An interactive website for cancer patients and caregivers, called 3 Steps Toward Preventing Infections During Cancer Treatment (www.preventcancerinfections.org).  This evidence-based tool assesses a cancer patient’s risk for developing neutropenia (a low white blood cell count) during chemotherapy and provides patients with targeted health information to reduce their risk of infection. 

A satellite media tour was conducted to promote the program to national and local media outlets.  Social media was used to start an online conversation with hundreds of tweets, Facebook posts, and additional posts on key professional and patient websites.  The launch announcement earned coverage from key professional groups reaching approximately 1.3 million healthcare professionals.  Since launch, CDC webpages have received over 145,000 page views, www.PreventCancerInfections.org has received over 105,000 page views, and more than 40,000 educational materials have been disseminated.  CDC partnered with online providers, such as Medscape, to educate clinicians about the program’s key messages.  The launch of resources reached over 168 million impressions and over 273 million impressions to date.

Conclusions:  Neutropenia and subsequent infections are among the most serious treatment-related toxicities of cancer treatment.   CDC used the knowledge gained through formative research to tailor messages and launch a campaign aimed at protecting cancer patients when they are most vulnerable.  

Implications for research and/or practice:  This one-of-a-kind public health initiative was developed and launched as a public-private partnership.  Future campaigns should look at how to utilize multiple partners to help spread an organization’s message to the masses through a multi-media approach.