Effectiveness of a Telenursing System to Prevent the Exacerbation of Symptoms in Patients with Cancer Undergoing Outpatient Chemotherapy

Abstract

During outpatient chemotherapy, adverse events occurring at home must be carefully monitored. We have developed a tele-nursing system that can store physical information such as blood pressure and pulse measured by cancer patients in the cloud by using Bluetooth, which is wireless communication technology, and collect information from remote locations. The tele-nursing system name is T-SCOT. The purpose of this study is to conduct a randomized controlled trial to investigate the efficacy of T-SCOT intervention. Participants are those who receive T-SCOT intervention plus Care as usual as the intervention group, and those who receive only Care as usual as the control group. T-SCOT includes the following five steps: 1) Answer questions related to side effects of chemotherapy [10 items]. 2) Measure blood pressure, pulse, body temperature, and SPO2. The measured data is automatically saved in the cloud via Bluetooth. 3) Watch a video of coping behavior for side effects. 4) The data entered by the patient is visualized as a line graph. 5) Utilize the videophone function with researchers if you have any problems or troubles. Utilization of ICT in telenursing makes it possible to visualize patient’s physical information and contributes to the reduction of medical expenses.