Cancer Patients Gain From Reporting Symptoms Online

Cancer Patients Gain From Reporting Symptoms Online
FRIDAY, Nov. 30 (HealthDay News) -- Having cancer patients report todoctors on their symptoms and side effects online may improve their care,a new study finds.
Even the sickest cancer patients are willing and capable of reportingtheir symptoms online, says a team from Memorial Sloan-Kettering CancerCenter in New York City.
"Cancer care has become increasingly complex, causing office visits tobecome more compressed. This makes it challenging for the clinician tocomprehensively assess each patient's symptoms in that brief window oftime," study author Dr. Ethan Basch, a medical oncologist, said in aprepared statement.
"Because cancer therapies can be highly toxic, early detection ofsymptoms and timely treatment is vital. What is exciting to us aboutonline self-reporting is that patients can alert clinicians to crucialsymptoms in real time," Basch said.
The study included 107 lung cancer patients receiving outpatientchemotherapy who had access to a secure Internet patient reporting systemdeveloped by Basch and his colleagues. The patients were able to accessthe Symptom Tracking and Reporting (STAR) site using computers in waitingroom kiosks and at home to report cancer symptoms and chemotherapy-relatedside effects.
The patients were followed for up to 16 months and 40 visits. All ofthe patients used the waiting room kiosks at some or all of their officevisits, and an average of 78 percent logged onto the system at any givenoffice visit. Patients were more likely to use STAR if they had priorcomputer experience.
The study found that 98 percent of patients found STAR easy to use, 90percent said it was useful, and 77 percent believed it improved thequality of their discussions with clinicians.
The study appears in the Dec. 1 issue of the Journal of ClinicalOncology.
More information
The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more about coping withcancer.