Burden of Care for Patients With In-Transit Melanoma

Logistic burdens of cancer care: A qualitative study

“…Transportation was a burden for almost every participant because most were unable to drive themselves during at least one point in their treatment process, which is consistent with prior studies in which transportation burdens were reported by individuals with ovarian and breast cancer [ 28 , 31 ]. Cancer survivors often spend a large number of hours receiving cancer treatment [ 25 – 29 ], and appointment logistics also created barriers for almost all patients in this study. These costs expanded beyond appointments alone and included healthcare system barriers and administrative tasks, such as patient responsibility in communicating between care teams, which was previously reported as burdensome by survivors of ovarian cancer [ 31 ].…”

“…Measuring the contributors to and consequences of logistic toxicity poses multiple challenges. While the number of appointments, travel time, and wait time for visits to healthcare facilities can be objectively recorded [25][26][27][28][29][30], context-dependent and subjective aspects of logistic burden are typically not comprehensively collected. Home-based cancer care activities, such as administrative tasks, may have a major impact on logistic toxicity, but these activities are often less visible to clinicians and researchers.…”