Work is needed to reduce the barriers to electronic reporting of patients’ symptoms in between clinical visits, according to Ethan Basch, director of the UNC Lineberger Cancer Outcomes Research Programme, writing in the New England Medical Journal.
While Basch has previously found an association between usage of electronic patient reported outcomes (PROs) and improvements in cancer care outcomes, the administration of PRO measurements in cancer care has still a long way to go before it is standard practice. Basch says such standardisation is possible if the focus is shifted to using electronic devices to collect patient-reported information, making an efficient use of patients’ time in the waiting room.
This would also provide a systematic and standardised method for clinicians to gather PRO data. Basch attributes the failure to make progress in this respect to the lack of financial incentives in the healthcare sector, uncertainty of medical providers about the success of ePRO implementation and the rudimentary ability of electronic health software to collect this type of data.
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