Background:
The multidisciplinary Sydney Survivorship Clinic (SSC) aims to help survivors manage their disease and lasting treatment effects. Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) are integrated into the clinical consultation. Here we report patient adherence to PROMs attending their first clinic.
Method:
SSC attendees are mailed PROMs questionnaires and asked to bring completed forms to clinic. PROMs include symptoms, quality of life (QOL), distress, exercise questionnaire, 3-day food diary, food questionnaire, and self-rated performance status. After clinic, patients are asked to complete a satisfaction questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were used to report proportions of completed PROMs as a surrogate of patient acceptability.
Results:
Between September 2013-September 2018, 469 patients attended their first SSC visit. Demographics: 68% (n=318) female; main tumour types: breast cancer 41%, colorectal 33%, haematology 17.5% and others (9%). Median age 57years (IQR 17.5years). Average completion rate for PROMs ranged from 83-89%. The food questionnaire was completed by 90% but the 3-day food diary by 53%. Reasons for not completing the food diary included language barriers and attendees not receiving the package.
Overall, 98% (347/354) “agreed” or “completely agreed” attending SSC was worthwhile, and 99% (257/260) would recommend it to others.
Conclusion:
Comprehensive PROMS can be incorporated into clinical practice with excellent adherence, despite some language difficulties. Ensuring streamlined administrative processes helps to reduce avoidable missing data. The need to complete PROMs prior to attending the clinic did not appear to affect patient’s satisfaction rating of the clinic.