Personalising Cancer Care: The Impact of Digital PROMs Collection in Breast Cancer Treatment
An understanding of the patient’s experience with their illness and treatment is integrally linked to personalising cancer care and making meaningful treatment choices that matter for health outcomes. Patient-reported outcomes measures (PROMs) have classically been captured using paper-based methods, which are often logistically burdensome and expensive. A small pilot study by Vinehealth Digital Ltd (now part of Sciensus), however, illustrates how digital solutions can fundamentally change things: empowering patient engagement while gaining invaluable insight at a fraction of the cost.
Study Overview
A study, “Evaluating the Impact of Digital PROMs Collection in an Outpatient Breast Cancer Clinic: A Feasibility Pilot,” was conducted in London, from September to December 2022 by Tay N. and co-authors affiliated with Vinehealth Digital Ltd, Imperial College London, and Cromwell Hospital. This research set out to assess the feasibility and associated benefits of Cancer Companion in terms of digital PROMs collection in clinical practice.
The Importance of PROMs in Cancer Care
PROMs are crucial tools that provide insight from a patient’s perspective with regard to symptoms, functional status, and quality of life. Such measures would be very important in guiding patient care, especially in cancer treatment, where symptom burden and emotional wellbeing have dominant impacts on both treatment outcome and patient satisfaction.
Traditionally, PROMs have been collected using paper questionnaires – a method typically resulting in low response rates and high operational costs.
Learn more about our digital solutions that enable a streamlined digital PROMs collection to improve patient care and engagement, leading to significant cost savings and better health outcomes.
Key Findings from the Study
The study yielded some impressive results, demonstrating the benefits of collecting digital PROMs.
- High completion rates: Of 22 breast cancer patients who participated in the study, 72.7% completed the PROMs at least once using the Cancer Companion app, a quantum jump from the paper-based survey that managed to elicit responses from only 7 percent.
- Cost Effectiveness: The cost that had to be paid for collecting PROMs using the app, once licensed, was virtually zero; this demonstrates huge potential savings against the £63 per patient for the paper-based methods.
- Improved Patient Engagement: There were 889 symptoms recorded in the study, and the most recorded was fatigue. Patients were active about their care, yielding significant data that helps in the early detection of complications from treatment.
The Challenge with Paper-Based PROMs
Of course, collecting PROMs on paper is a laborious job, and it doesn’t come cheap either. Their estimation at Cromwell Hospital was that distributing, chasing, and data entry from paper-based PROMs cost them about £63 per patient. Added to this, the response rate from paper questionnaires was only 7%, making meaningful, actionable data hard to collate.
The Digital Solution: Cancer Companion App
The Cancer Companion app was offered to patients for completing their PROMs and symptom tracking electronically. This helped to create a much easier and user-friendly avenue than using paper for data capture. Patients were invited to download the app and participate in the study in which they were asked to complete PRO measures for tracking key symptoms like pain, fatigue, and changes in mood.
Impact of Digital PROMs
Digital PROMs collection has several advantages to the traditional methods. These include a higher response rate that ensures comprehensive data, lower costs thus suitable for routine clinical practice. Real-time data provided by the patients may further enable the health providers to pick up any potential issues at an early stage and therefore improve the overall quality of care and outcomes.
Benefits for Patients and Healthcare Providers
For Patients: Digital PROMs and symptom tracking empowers patients to actively participate in their care, leading to better treatment outcomes and improved quality of life. The ease of use and real-time feedback provided by the Cancer Companion app enhances patient satisfaction and engagement.
For Healthcare Providers: The high completion rates and cost savings make digital PROMs a valuable tool for healthcare providers. By capturing comprehensive data on patient experiences, clinicians can tailor treatment plans more effectively and respond promptly to any complications, reducing the need for emergency interventions and hospital admissions.
Summary
This pilot study at Cromwell Hospital will enable digital PROMs collection in ways that will transform oncology care. Higher response rates, reduced costs, and better patient engagement can be attained by healthcare providers who use the Cancer Companion app. As digital health solutions continue to evolve, they hold the very clear promise of playing an increasingly critical role in bettering both patient outcomes and streamlining healthcare delivery.
The Cancer Companion app is simply one of the ways Sciensus is using technology and patient insights to improve the patient experience and increase commercial opportunities for Pharma.