A Multifaceted Telemedicine-Based Intervention to Improve Outcomes of Cancer Patients Admitted to the ICU

Admission to the intensive care unit (ICU) is a common event in patients treated for solid tumors or hematologic malignancies. A volume-outcome relationship has been shown in these patients, with a mortality rate decreasing from 70% in low-volume centres to 30-40% in high-volume centres. We hypothesize that providing the low-volume centres with assistance from experts working in high-volume centres for the management of critically-ill cancer patients can bring down mortality to the values seen in high-volume centres. The main objective of this study is to evaluate whether combining three knowledge-transfer methods (videoconference-based forum, educational sessions, and dissemination of published work) increases the survival of cancer patients managed in low-volume centres to the values seen in high-volume centres. The main endpoint is all-cause mortality at hospital discharge.