Survey Reveals Perceptions of Digital Technology Use in Cancer Care

In its recent survey, “Digital Tools in Cancer Care,” the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) received national feedback from providers, patients, and caregivers that revealed a willingness to utilize digital, remote patient-monitoring (RPM) tools to report symptoms throughout anti-cancer treatments.

Survey responses were collected from 90 patients with cancer, 72 caregivers, and 128 providers. Among respondents, patients and caregivers showed an equal willingness to use the digital tools. In addition, almost half of respondents (45 percent) reported using symptom-tracking technology during their cancer treatment, with only 6 percent who chose to stop using the tools. 

Key survey results found more than half (60 percent) of providers who implemented an RPM program said it added “10 hours or less” to a weekly workload. Of the 60 percent, almost half (40 percent) said the program did not “significantly disrupt workflow,” with 24 percent noting the technology actually improved workflow. 

David Penberthy, M.D., Immediate-Past President of the ACCC, said, “We found that there was uniform enthusiasm for engagement with this [technology] across the age spectrum. We saw younger people, mid-career people, older adults—everybody was enthusiastic to use this technology. The younger people had less of an effort to get operational. The older people who responded to our survey required more hands-on help with setting up the system, but once they were set up with the system, they were using it quite routinely and effectively, and were very pleased with the system.” 

In a recent CancerBuzz podcast, “Key Highlights from an ACCC Survey on Remote Patient Monitoring,” Dr. Penberthy shared additional analysis and survey findings. The survey will be a featured poster presentation at the 2023 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, June 2-6 in Chicago. Survey methodology and findings are available here. 

Olalekan Ajayi, PharmD, President of the ACCC, summed up, “The oncology workforce is under immense stress and implementing any kind of new program can seem, at the start, to be just another burden. But this survey has shown us that many providers have found ways to start and maintain these remote patient-monitoring programs within their existing workflow, and reap the benefits of better patient outcomes and fewer hospitalizations.”