Is a nurse-led telephone intervention a viable alternative to nurse-led home care and standard care for patients receiving oral capecitabine? Results from a large prospective audit in patients with colorectal cancer

Abstract

Home care nursing has been shown to be a valuable service for patients receiving oral chemotherapy; however, associated costs can be high and telephone-based services may be more cost-effective options. This prospective audit explored the usefulness of a nurse-led telephone intervention for supporting cancer patients treated with Capecitabine, comparing historical findings from a randomised trial evaluating a home-based intervention over standard care with a modified nurse-led telephone follow-up intervention. Self-reported toxicity and service use were assessed in 298 patients who received nurse-led telephone follow-up, compared with historical data from 164 patients (81 receiving standard care and 83 home care intervention). Findings suggested that nurse-led telephone follow-up can potentially lead to reduced toxicity (chest pain, vomiting, oral mucositis, nausea, insomnia) when compared with standard care, and that it has a similar impact on the management of some symptoms when compared with home care (i.e. vomiting, oral mucositis), although it was not as effective as the home care intervention for other toxicities (diarrhoea and insomnia). These encouraging findings need to be explored further using a randomised trial design before we reach any conclusions. Further research should also include a health economics study to assess the cost-effectiveness of the telephone-based services for patients receiving oral chemotherapy.

Acceptability of telephone support as perceived by patients with cancer: A systematic review

“…Intervention timing varied according to the specific treatment being received. The vast majority were presented as supplementary to standard care (Cirillo et al., ; Cox et al., ; Delaney et al., ; Dixon, ; Hagopian & Rubenstein, ; Heidrich et al., ; Inman et al., ; Jefford et al., ; Jensen, Kristensen, Christensen, & Borre, ; Mordenti et al., ; Munro, Shaw, Clarke, Becker, & Greenwood, ; Sardell et al., ; Smithies et al., ; Young et al., , ; Zhang et al., ; Zheng et al., ), although four were described as standard care interventions (Archer et al., ; Craven, Hughes, Burton, Saunders, & Molassiotis, ; Hafiji et al., ; Kelly et al, ).…”

“…High levels of overall satisfaction (Alter et al., ; Anderson, ; Badger et al., ; Beaver et al., ; Booker et al., ; , Cox et al., ; Craven et al., ; Garrett et al., ; Hafiji et al., ; Hagopian & Rubenstein, ; Hegel et al., ; Heidrich et al., ; Jensen et al., ; Kilbourn et al., ; Kimman, Bloebaum, et al., ; Leahy et al., ; Sardell et al., ; Steginga et al., ; Zhang et al., ) were reported; however, interpretation of these results should take into account the context of this assessment. Findings from low‐quality data and in some cases feedback were provided during the delivery of a telephone intervention (Anderson, ; Booker et al., ; Craven et al., ; Kelly et al, ), with potential for respondent and social desirability biases. Despite being a “comforting” indicator, overall satisfaction as a measure does not provide sufficient detail to enable key features of intervention design to be identified and maximised.…”

Oral Antikanser İlaç Kulanan Kanser Hastalarında Telefon ile Yapılan İzlemin İlaç Uyumuna Etkisi: Sistematik Derleme

“…Toplam puanın yüksekliği araştırmanın metodolojik kalitesinin yüksekliğine işaret eder 23 HUHEMFAD-JOHUFON 2018, 5(3), 230-246 gruba ayrılmışlar. Telefon ile izlem yapılan grubun ilaç uyumu standart bakıma göre istatistiksel olarak anlamlı çıkarken (p<0.005) yan etki açısından anlamlı fark istatistiksel olarak önemsiz bulunmuştur(p>0,005) 20 . Spoelstra ve arkadaşlarının çalışmasında ise, danışmanlık verilen hasta grubunda, %95 oranında uygun ilaç kullanımı görülmüş olup gruplar arası fark istatistiksel olarak anlamlı (p<0.005) olarak değerlendirilmişidir 13 .…”

Homecare user needs from the perspective of the patient and carers: a review

“…Four of these studies detailed successful outcomes of trialing telehealth support for medication and related symptoms, including a shared electronic care plan for professionals. 35,[155][156][157][158] Seven studies reported successful outcomes of telemonitoring. 106,[159][160][161][162][163][164] Mobile computing devices for information sharing, decision making, communication, and developing social capital were developed.…”