Abstract
Background:
Patients receiving chemotherapy require ongoing symptom monitoring and management to optimize their outcomes. In recent years, digital remote monitoring interventions have emerged to provide enhanced cancer care delivery experiences to patients and clinicians. However, patient and clinician experiential evaluations of these technologies are rare. Therefore, we explored user experiences and perceptions of one such intervention—Advanced Symptom Management System (ASyMS)—after its scaled deployment in the context of the Electronic Symptom Management System Remote Technology (eSMART) trial. The eSMART trial was a large, multicenter randomized controlled trial to evaluate the efficacy of ASyMS in 12 clinical sites in 5 European countries.
Objective:
In this qualitative study, both patients’ and clinicians’ experiences of using ASyMS for up to 6 cycles of chemotherapy were explored to understand the impact of ASyMS on patients’ experiences, clinical practice, and supportive care delivery.
Methods:
For this analysis, individual, semistructured, one-to-one interviews with 29 patients with breast, colorectal, and hematological cancers and 18 clinicians from Austria, Greece, Ireland, Norway, and the United Kingdom were conducted. Interviews focused on patients’ and clinicians’ experiences of using ASyMS, care organization and changes in practice following the introduction of ASyMS, perceived changes in care associated with the use of ASyMS, and its potential for future integration into routine chemotherapy care pathways.
Results:
Thematic analysis identified several themes that describe patients’ and clinicians’ experiences using ASyMS. One central orienting theme—ASyMS as a facilitator of change—was supported by 5 key themes associated with human and technology monitoring: reassurance, enhanced communications and relationships, knowing what is “normal” and what is to be expected, enhancing cancer care experiences, and informing future cancer care.
Conclusions:
This study is the first to evaluate both patients’ and clinicians’ experiences of using a digital health intervention to remotely monitor chemotherapy symptoms across 5 countries. Experiences with ASyMS were positive from both patients’ and clinicians’ perspectives, although some improvements to support the wider-scale rollout and sustained implementation were identified. Overall, this study demonstrates that real-time remote monitoring systems can help patients feel more reassured during their chemotherapy treatments and can help clinicians provide the right care, at the right time, and in the right place.
Patients receiving chemotherapy require ongoing symptom monitoring and management to optimize their outcomes. In recent years, digital remote monitoring interventions have emerged to provide enhanced cancer care delivery experiences to patients and clinicians. However, patient and clinician experiential evaluations of these technologies are rare. Therefore, we explored user experiences and perceptions of one such intervention—Advanced Symptom Management System (ASyMS)—after its scaled deployment in the context of the Electronic Symptom Management System Remote Technology (eSMART) trial. The eSMART trial was a large, multicenter randomized controlled trial to evaluate the efficacy of ASyMS in 12 clinical sites in 5 European countries.
Objective:
In this qualitative study, both patients’ and clinicians’ experiences of using ASyMS for up to 6 cycles of chemotherapy were explored to understand the impact of ASyMS on patients’ experiences, clinical practice, and supportive care delivery.
Methods:
For this analysis, individual, semistructured, one-to-one interviews with 29 patients with breast, colorectal, and hematological cancers and 18 clinicians from Austria, Greece, Ireland, Norway, and the United Kingdom were conducted. Interviews focused on patients’ and clinicians’ experiences of using ASyMS, care organization and changes in practice following the introduction of ASyMS, perceived changes in care associated with the use of ASyMS, and its potential for future integration into routine chemotherapy care pathways.
Results:
Thematic analysis identified several themes that describe patients’ and clinicians’ experiences using ASyMS. One central orienting theme—ASyMS as a facilitator of change—was supported by 5 key themes associated with human and technology monitoring: reassurance, enhanced communications and relationships, knowing what is “normal” and what is to be expected, enhancing cancer care experiences, and informing future cancer care.
Conclusions:
This study is the first to evaluate both patients’ and clinicians’ experiences of using a digital health intervention to remotely monitor chemotherapy symptoms across 5 countries. Experiences with ASyMS were positive from both patients’ and clinicians’ perspectives, although some improvements to support the wider-scale rollout and sustained implementation were identified. Overall, this study demonstrates that real-time remote monitoring systems can help patients feel more reassured during their chemotherapy treatments and can help clinicians provide the right care, at the right time, and in the right place.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | e53834 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| Journal | Journal of Medical Internet Research |
| Volume | 26 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 3 Dec 2024 |
Funding
This study was funded by the European Commission via the FP7-HEALTH-2013-INNOVATION-1 grant award scheme (grant 602289). The trial was sponsored by the University of Strathclyde. The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the European Commission or the University of Strathclyde. The funders and the sponsors of the trial had no role in the design, undertaking, and reporting of the study. The authors thank the patients and clinicians across the partner hospital sites for taking part and positively contributing to the overall electronic symptom management system remote technology program of work (Medical University Vienna Comprehensive Cancer Centre, Austria; Agioi Anargiri Cancer Hospital, Greece;
Keywords
- cancer
- clinician experiences
- digital interventions
- patient experiences
- remote monitoring
- qualitative methods
