CN24 - Experience with the routine use of ePROMs in nurse and pharmacist-led telephone clinics for patients with prostate cancer

Background

The use of electronic patient-reported outcome measures (ePROMs) is associated with better patient care and improved service efficiency. In our nurse- and pharmacist-led telephone clinics for patients with metastatic prostate cancer on novel hormonal therapies, ePROMs have been implemented. Here, we compare our service before and after implementing ePROMs and present feedback obtained from patients.

Methods

Five days before their telephone appointments, all patients are invited to complete the ePROMs questionnaire, which includes 19 disease-specific symptom questions adapted from CTCAE and the EQ-5D-5L. As patients are required to self-measure blood pressure and get blood tests before appointments, they are also asked to input their blood pressure readings on the questionnaire and directed to blood test services if they report not having the necessary test done. We collected data on service efficiency over 12 weeks, both before and after ePROMs implementation. Randomly selected patients were sent an online survey for their opinions on the service.

Results

There were 366 telephone appointments pre-ePROMs and 418 post-ePROMs. The overall completion rate for ePROMs was 70%. After ePROMs implementation, the percentage of appointments where patients did not have blood test results and blood pressure readings dropped from 15% to 10% and 22% to 15% respectively. Of those patients who initially reported no blood tests or blood pressure readings on ePROMs, 72% (33/46) had their blood test results and 50% (20/40) had their blood pressure ready by the time of their telephone appointments. Feedback obtained from 27 patients is summarised in the table.

Table: CN24

Patient-reported outcomes of ePROMs

Conclusions

After implementing ePROMs, in addition to the overall increased number of patients booked to the clinics, the proportion of appointments without blood pressure and blood tests has reduced. This indicates that ePROMs help enhance our service efficiency and foster greater patient engagement with their own care.

Clinical trial identification

Editorial acknowledgement

Legal entity responsible for the study

The authors.

Funding

Has not received any funding.

Disclosure

A. Hudson: Financial Interests, Personal and Institutional, Advisory Board: Merck, Pfizer, AstraZeneca. All other authors have declared no conflicts of interest.