• J Pain Symptom Manage · Sep 2019

    Randomized Controlled Trial

    Usability of PCforMe in patients with advanced cancer referred to outpatient palliative care: results of a randomized, active-controlled pilot trial.

    • Arif H Kamal, Steven Wolf, Jonathan M Nicolla, Fred Friedman, Mengdi Xuan, Antonia V Bennett, and Greg Samsa.
    • Duke Cancer Institute, Durham, North Carolina, USA; Duke Fuqua School of Business, Durham, North Carolina, USA; Department of Population Health Sciences, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA. Electronic address: arif.kamal@duke.edu.
    • J Pain Symptom Manage. 2019 Sep 1; 58 (3): 382389382-389.

    ContextLow utilization of palliative care services warrant testing of new solutions to educate and engage patients around the benefits of palliative care.ObjectivesWe sought out to develop and test a novel, mobile health solution to prepare patients for an upcoming outpatient palliative care appointment.MethodsAfter developing a web-based tool called PCforMe (Palliative Care for Me), we conducted a randomized, active-controlled, trial of PCforMe. The primary outcome was the score on the System Usability Scale (SUS). Secondary outcomes were patient self-efficacy and change in knowledge. We compared PCforMe to three common online resources for patients seeking information about palliative care.ResultsA total of 80 patients were randomized. There were no significant demographic differences. Mean SUS score for PCforMe was 78.2, significantly above the normative average SUS score of 68 (P-value < 0.0001). Mean change in Perceived Efficacy in Patient-Physician Interactions score was -2.2 for PCforMe and -1.7 for control group (P-value = 0.72). Preparedness for an upcoming palliative care visit increased 50% in the intervention group and 13.3% in the control group. Difference in the number of patients with improved knowledge regarding palliative care approached significance (P = 0.06). Lastly, we found that the no-show rate was lower during Q1 2017 (during trial) and Q1 2016 (before trial), at 11.7% and 21%, respectively (P < 0.05). Comparing the full calendar year (CY) 2016 with 2017, we did not find a statistical difference (CY 2016 of 18.8% and 15% in CY 2017; P = 0.22).ConclusionPCforMe is a usable mobile health tool to prepare patients for an upcoming palliative care appointment. Further research is needed to test effectiveness.Copyright © 2019 American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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