Emergency department-based cancer screening interventions

Abstract

Emergency department patients are disproportionately non-adherent with the United States Preventive Services Task Force cancer screening recommendations, making the emergency department a target-rich environment for interventions aimed at increasing the uptake of cancer screening. Promotion of cancer screening in the emergency department has the potential to address health disparities and to reach patients that experience significant barriers to accessing preventive care. This narrative review presents concise summaries of the four types of cancer screenings with grade A or B recommendations from the United States Preventive Services Task Force (breast, cervical, colorectal, and lung) and presents the potential enabling factors and challenges of utilizing the emergency department setting to increase cancer screening uptake. Past and ongoing efforts to promote cancer screening among emergency department patients are discussed, and critical knowledge gaps and research opportunities are highlighted. Although there has been a paucity of research evaluating interventions that have the potential to increase cancer screening uptake among emergency department patients, the emergency department setting is uniquely positioned to address disparities in cancer screening uptake and contribute to progress towards national cancer screening goals. To be effective, interventions that aim to achieve this purpose must identify patients with screening needs, engage with patients regarding their knowledge and beliefs about screening, and provide an effective method to conduct or connect patients with screening procedures and subsequent follow-up.