Adoption of electronic patient-reported outcomes in cancer clinical practice: the point of view of Italian patients

Abstract

Background

In 2022, the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) guideline recommended the adoption of electronic patient-reported outcomes measures (ePROMs) in routine clinical practice for patients with cancer. The aim of this survey is to identify the critical issues that would arise in the implementation of ePROMs in daily oncology clinical practice from patients’ view.

Materials and methods

From March to April 2023, outpatients with cancer treated at Mauriziano Hospital in Turin (Italy) filled in a paper questionnaire. Seven questions dealt with the respondents’ characteristics, eight questions with the satisfaction about the current method used to collect information about patients’ symptoms and toxicities, and the opinion about several potentially critical issues for the implementation of ePROMs.

Results

Two hundred and twenty patients completed the survey. In current clinical practice, symptoms are mostly collected through verbal questions and paper-based questionnaires. Seventy-two percent of patients were satisfied with these methods; 82% were in favor of using ePROMs. Most patients were not concerned about privacy (82%), while a minority was concerned about possible lack of interest by clinicians in the symptoms digitally reported (14%) and the possible negative impact on doctor–patient relationship (39%). Seventy-seven percent of respondents declared to be familiar with technological tools and 83% were confident with the availability of internet connection.

Conclusions

In our center, most patients are satisfied with current methods of symptom monitoring and would also be in favor of the introduction of ePROMs. However, several aspects still need to be addressed for universal implementation of ePROMs in routine practice.