2022 World Conference on Lung Cancer (ePosters)-EP04.02-003. Improving Supportive Care for Patients with Thoracic Cancer

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A study was conducted to improve lung cancer care for veterans by addressing symptom burden and social determinants of health. The aim was to develop and evaluate the feasibility of using lay volunteer-led outbound telephone calls to assess symptoms in veterans with thoracic malignancies. The primary outcome was to evaluate the efficacy of the intervention on oncologist documentation of patient-reported symptom burden. Secondary outcomes included changes in patient activation, health-related quality of life, and symptom burden.<br /><br />The study involved patients with all stages of lung cancer who were receiving anti-cancer treatment at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System. It was a blinded, 1:1 randomized controlled trial, with participants randomized to either usual care or proactive symptom assessment by lay volunteers. Symptoms rated 4 or higher on a scale from 0 to 10 received a phone call from a nurse practitioner for further intervention. The results showed that the intervention led to significant improvements in symptom documentation by oncologists, as well as improvements in patient activation, quality of life, and reduction in symptom burden.<br /><br />There were some limitations to the study, including being conducted at a single institution, potential treatment changes for patients not evaluated, variable time between symptom assessment, intervention, and follow-up visits, capacity limitations with only one nurse practitioner making calls, and high turnover rate of lay volunteers. The study was funded by Genentech.<br /><br />In conclusion, the integration of proactive symptom assessment by lay volunteers had a meaningful effect on symptom documentation by oncologists and improved patient outcomes for veterans with lung cancer. This study suggests that using lay volunteers in outbound telephone calls to assess symptoms could be a feasible and effective strategy for improving supportive care for patients with thoracic cancer.

Asset Subtitle

LaKedia Charman Banks

Meta Tag

Speaker LaKedia Charman Banks

Topic Global Health, Health Services Research, and Health Economics - Support to Patients and Staff

Keywords

lung cancer care

veterans

symptom burden

social determinants of health

lay volunteers

outbound telephone calls

thoracic malignancies

oncologist documentation

patient activation

health-related quality of life