Digital technologies in cancer care: a review from the clinician's perspective

Abstract

Physicians are increasingly utilizing digital health technologies (DHT) such as smartphone applications, network-enabled wearable devices, web-based communication platforms, videoconferencing, chatbots, artificial intelligence and virtual reality to improve access to, and quality of, care. DHT aid in cancer screening, patient education, shared decision-making, promotion of positive health habits, symptom monitoring and intervention, patient–provider communication, provision of psychological support and delivery of effective survivorship care. This narrative review outlines how physicians may utilize digital health to improve or augment their delivery of cancer care. For the full potential of DHT to be realized, experts must develop appropriate solutions to issues surrounding the regulation, liability, quality, security, equity and reimbursement of DHT.

Immersive horizons: navigating ethical terrain and practical boundaries in the use of virtual reality for cancer symptom management – a comprehensive narrative review

“…Nurse-led phone followup and telehealth platforms provide psychological support and information to caregivers. 21 VR interventions have shown great potential in reducing pain, anxiety, and depressive symptoms among cancer patients, specifically in pediatric and adult populations. 22,23 VR technology, alongside standard care, has effectively reduced pain and anxiety associated with procedures such as port access and lumbar punctures in children and adolescents.…”

“…22,23 VR technology, alongside standard care, has effectively reduced pain and anxiety associated with procedures such as port access and lumbar punctures in children and adolescents. 21,22 Additionally, VR interventions combined with standard care have been more effective in reducing pain and anxiety during anti-cancer treatments and hospitalization in adults and elderly patients. While there is a lack of evidence regarding VR's effectiveness during painful procedures for this age group, previous research highlights VR's power in managing anxiety, time perception, pain, fatigue, and depression severity.…”

“…15,19,31 VR distractions have also reduced pain during medical procedures and burn injury care. 20,21 All participants positively received the introduction of VR intervention in a pediatric oncology ward, and it was easily feasible using available technology. This approach, when compared to pharmacological pain management, demonstrates the growing evidence for VR's effectiveness in medical procedures within oncology contexts.…”

Optimal assessment of quality of life for patients with prostate cancer

“…Toward this end, QoL assessments may be integrated with digital health technologies that automate this process. 32 For example, electronic intake forms can collect such information from patients and integrate with the electronic healthcare record to deliver the information to the clinician in a user-friendly way. One such platform collected patient preferences and integrated these with clinical factors to help patients and providers rank PCa treatment options, reducing decisional conflict by 37% ( p < 0.0001) increasing patient-reported involvement (88% versus 57%, p = 0.01) and increasing responsibility for the treatment decision (94% versus 52%, p < 0.0001) compared to patients who received usual care.…”

Usability Testing of a New Digital Integrated Health Ecosystem (PainRELife) for the Clinical Management of Chronic Pain in Patients With Early Breast Cancer: Protocol for a Pilot Study

“…First, it monitors the physical and psychological well-being of the patients through self-report questionnaires and momentary ecological assessments (eg, using e-diary), in particular, regular administration of standardized self-report questionnaires and momentary ecological assessments, such as e-diary, effectively track variation in physical and psychological symptomatology, allowing an evaluation of affective instability in CP [ 15 , 19 ]. Second, it favors bidirectional and well-timed communication between health care professionals and patients [ 7 , 16 ], for example, patient-reported outcome measures can be managed by mobile health apps and stored in patients’ electronic health records, favoring a fast and direct clinical response to alarm conditions [ 20 ]. Third, it permits scheduled clinical follow-ups, reducing the risk of failing continued clinical monitoring during, for example, the survivorship phase [ 12 ].…”