Evaluation of an Online Platform for Cancer Patient Self-reporting of Chemotherapy Toxicities
- Ethan Basch,
- David Artz,
- Alexia Iasonos,
- John Speakman,
- Kevin Shannon,
- Kai Lin,
- Charmaine Pun,
- Henry Yong,
- Paul Fearn,
- Allison Barz,
- Howard I Scher,
- Mary McCabe,
- Deborah Schrag
- Affiliations of the authors: Departments of Biostatistics (EB, DA, AI, JS, KL, AB, DS), Medicine (EB, DA, DS, HS), Information Services (KS, CP, HY), Urology (PF), and Physician-in-Chief's Office (MM), Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY
- Correspondence and reprints: Ethan Basch, MD, MSc, Departments of Medicine and Biostatistics, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, 307 East 63rd Street, New York, NY 10021; e-mail: <basche{at}mskcc.org>
- Received 12 June 2006
- Accepted 24 January 2007
Abstract
The current mechanism for monitoring toxicity symptoms in cancer trials depends on a complex paper-based process. Electronic collection of patient-reported outcomes (PROs) may be more efficient and accurate. An online PRO platform was created including a simple data entry interface, real-time report generation, and an alert system to e-mail clinicians when patients self-report serious toxicities. Feasibility assessment involving 180 chemotherapy patients demonstrated high levels of use at up to 40 follow-up clinic visits per patient over 16 months (85% of patients at any given visit), with high levels of patient and clinician acceptance and satisfaction (>95%). Alerts were used as the basis for delayed chemotherapy treatments, dose modifications, and scheduling changes. These results demonstrate that online patient-reporting is a feasible strategy for chemotherapy toxicity symptom monitoring, and may improve safety and satisfaction with care. Ongoing multi-center research will evaluate the impact of this approach on clinical and administrative outcomes.
