Abstract

37 Background: Systematic symptom monitoring improves quality of life, and possibly overall survival in cancer outpatients receiving chemotherapy. To reduce patient, staff, and resource burden, combining research surveys with electronic PRO assessments in a multidisciplinary academic esophageal cancer clinic may allow dual clinical-research goals to be met. Methods: EsO-PRO is a data collection tool directed at esophageal cancer outpatients created through expert feedback. Using the Canadian Institutes of Health research (CIHR) Knowledge-to-Action (KTA) framework, clinic flow and stakeholder maps were constructed. Facilitators and barriers were then identified, and responses were generated to address implementation barriers. Multiple iterations of the questionnaire were implemented; patient and clinic staff feedback was collected through key informant interviews, and major themes were described. Results: Creation of EsO-PRO included multiple validated tools: the FACT-E, modified Cancer Research UK esophageal cancer risk questionnaire, EQ5D-5L, PRO-CTCAE for common esophageal symptoms, and baseline clinico-demographic data. Four iterations of the KTA cycle for pilot implementation identified specific key facilitators (clinician champions, staff engagement, resource-integration, and clinician-researcher synergy) and barriers (familiarity with technology, survey length, and communication barriers). Qualitative assessment also identified perceived importance of questions as key to patient completion, and role delegation, staff burden, clinic flow interruption as critical issues to address. Splitting EsO-PRO into two separate visits for completion, allowing completion at home, and changing fill-in-the-blanks to check-off boxes were identified as potential solutions. Conclusions: The CIHR-KTA framework identified concrete methods for improved integration of a combined clinical-research survey tool for routine use in a multidisciplinary esophageal cancer outpatient clinic. Our process serves as an effective model for integration of innovations in multidisciplinary esophageal cancer clinics.

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