title: An innovative symptom monitoring tool for people with advanced lung cancer: a pilot demonstration.
abstract: Treatment for advanced lung cancer is not curative; therefore, the primary goals of its care are to maximize symptom management and minimize treatment toxicity. Increasingly, patient-reported symptoms and health-related quality of life (HRQL) outcomes have been accepted as important endpoints; several validated measures have gained wide acceptance in research, but their use in practice has been limited. Computer technology increasingly is used to reduce patient and administrative burden in conducting assessments to produce a real-time presentation of symptom and HRQL data. This paper describes a technology-based monitoring system developed for patients with advanced lung cancer who were starting chemotherapy. Among the 90 participants, compliance with the weekly symptom survey was 92%. Patient acceptability of the system was high, as evidenced by 30 patients who elected to complete an additional monitoring interval beyond the 12-week study period. Of patients who reported discussing their responses with a provider (95%), a majority (69%) stated that the questionnaire helped them to focus on issues to be discussed with their physicians. The system also was favorably reviewed by physicians, who indicated that the report helped them to compare patients' responses over time. Next steps will include a randomized trial to test the system's efficacy in improving symptom management.
authors.affiliation: Georgetown University Medical Center, Department of Oncology, Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Washington, DC 20007, USA. kmd54@georgetown.edu
authors.forename: Kimberly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yount
authors.forename: Katie
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Del Ciello
authors.forename: Margaret
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Whalen
authors.forename: Shaheen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.forename: Mike
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bass
authors.forename: Hongyan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Du
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Eton
authors.forename: Gregory
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Masters
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hensing
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cella
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011581:Psychological Tests; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires