Record the date on which the patient was last known to be alive.
The date of last contact may be used for administrative purposes in conjunction with the patient's last known cancer status to identify how complete the treatment information is.
The last contact date may, for example, be the discharge date of an inpatient stay, the date of an outpatient appointment, the date of an investigation such as a scan or the date of a home visit by, for instance, a palliative care nurse or occupational therapist.
The last contact date may also be derived from an official source, for example, a letter from a physician detailing the patient's last follow-up appointment.
Many hospitals conduct routine follow-up of patients and the last contact date may result from a phone call to the patient.
The date of last contact should be updated as required.
If the patient has multiple primary cancers, all records should have the same date of last contact.
The date of death is collected as a separate item.
The date of last contact must be:
Greater than the date of diagnosis, and
Less than or equal to the date of death.
Collection methods:
The information should be collected from the patient’s medical record.
Comments:
This information is used for patient follow-up and outcome studies.
