Patient experience and use of an intervention combining nurse-led telephone and technologies for the monitoring of oral cancer medication

Abstract

Background: CAPRI, a randomized phase III trial comparing: an intervention combining Nurse Navigators (NNs) and a mobile application vs. Standard of care in cancer patients treated with oral anticancer agents was initiated in 2016 at Gustave Roussy (Villejuif, France). NNs provide regular telephone follow-ups to manage patients’ symptoms and assess toxicities, adherence to treatment and supportive care needs. Patients have access to a mobile application to record tracking data, contact NNs via secure messaging, view therapy and side effect information or store documents. Patient can contact the NNs on a dedicated phone line or by email/secure messaging Methods: The present analysis involves 3 main data sources: - A questionnaire sent to patients after using for 5 months the CAPRI intervention in order to assess their experience, - Interviews conducted with patients to obtain their feedback of the intervention, - Data extraction from the application and NNs’ interventions over a 24-month period. Results: Overall, 166 patients (83%) filled the questionnaire. Fifteen interviews were conducted. Patients’ experience with CAPRI intervention is summarized in the table below. [Table presented] The open-ended comments on the questionnaires and interviews with patients highlighted the importance of listening, having a contact person who is easily reachable, available and empathetic. Concerning the use of the mobile application, 53% of patients reported having tried to connect and only 38% reported monitoring data at least once. By focusing on patient-NNs communication during the study period (817 requests), most contacts are performed by phone (78%) or e-mail (18%) but very few by secure messaging (4%). Conclusions: Patients’ experience about the intervention was strongly positive. However, the mobile application is poorly used, suggesting that from the patients’ perspective, the presence of NNs is the key of the intervention. Clinical trial identification: 2016-A00254-47. Legal entity responsible for the study: Gustave Roussy. Funding: Fondation Philanthropia - Lombard Odier, Agence Nationale de la Recherche IHU-MMO, ARS Ile de France, Novartis, AstraZeneca. Disclosure: All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.