PRO-TECT: Electronic Patient Reporting of Symptoms During Outpatient Cancer Treatment, United States, 2017-2022

Patients treated for metastatic cancer, or cancer that has spread to another part of the body, often have symptoms from cancer and its treatment. They may feel tired, depressed, or nauseated. They may find it hard to do their usual activities. Better symptom tracking may help improve patients' care. For example, symptom tracking could quickly alert doctors when a patient may need a different medicine. In this study, the research team compared use of a weekly electronic symptom tracking system versus usual care for patients with cancer. Patients receiving usual care could report their symptoms to their care team during regular clinic visits. The research team wanted to see if the tracking system helped patients live longer, have better quality of life, or go to the hospital or emergency room less often. The aims of this study were as follows:

Determine whether integrating electronic patient-reported outcomes (ePRO) in cancer care improves patient-centered outcomes;
Elicit perspectives about benefit burden tradeoffs for integrating patient-reported outcomes into clinical workflow; and
Identify barriers, facilitators, and strategies used by practices to integrate patient-reported outcomes into clinical workflow.

A total of 1,191 patients were enrolled from 52 U.S.-based community oncology practices. Randomization into intervention and control conditions occurred at the site level. Data collected as part of this study included patient clinical information; weekly symptom surveys, quality of life surveys, and cancer care surveys completed by patients; feedback on the ePRO intervention from patients, clinical research associates, nurses, and physicians; and symptom alerts sent to nursing staff. Please note that while qualitative data were collected as part of this study, they are not available.