Supportive oncology care at home intervention for patients with pancreatic cancer.
Authors: Gaufberg Eva , Vyas Charu , Azoba Chinenye , Qian Carolyn L. , Jaggers Jordon , Weekes Colin D. , Allen Jill N. , Roeland Eric , Parikh Aparna Raj , Miller Laurie , Smith Melissa , Bergeron-Noa Marcy , Brown Patricia , Shulman Eliza , Hong Theodore S. , Greer Joseph A. , Ryan David P. , Temel Jennifer S. , El-Jawahri Areej , Nipp Ryan David 
Published: September 2021

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Background: Patients with pancreatic cancer receiving chemotherapy often experience substantial symptoms and high healthcare utilization. We sought to determine the feasibility of delivering a Supportive Oncology Care at Home intervention designed to address the needs of patients receiving treatment for pancreatic cancer. Methods: We prospectively enrolled patients with pancreatic cancer who were participating in a parent trial of neoadjuvant FOLFIRINOX and residing in-state, within 50 miles of our hospital. Patients received the Supportive Oncology Care at Home intervention during neoadjuvant treatment (i.e., up to 4 months). The intervention entailed: 1) remote monitoring of daily patient-reported symptoms, daily vital signs, and weekly body weight; 2) a hospital in the home care model for symptom assessment and management; and 3) structured communication with the oncology team. We defined the intervention as feasible if ≥60% of patients enrolled in the study and ≥60% completed the daily assessments within the first two weeks of enrollment. We tracked numbers of phone calls, emails, and home visits generated by the intervention. We conducted exit interviews with patients, caregivers, and oncology clinicians to assess the acceptability of the intervention. We also compared rates of treatment delays, urgent clinic visits, emergency room (ER) visits, and hospitalizations among those who did (n = 20) and did not (n = 24) receive Supportive Oncology Care at Home from the parent trial. Results: From 1/2019-9/2020, we enrolled 80.8% (21/26) of potentially eligible patients. One patient became ineligible following consent due to moving out-of-state, resulting in 20 participants (median age = 67 years [range 55-77]; 60.0% female). In the first two weeks of enrollment, 65.0% of participants completed all daily assessments. Overall, patients reported 96.1% of daily symptoms, 96.1% of daily vital signs, and 92.5% of weekly body weights. Each participant generated an average of 2.22 phone calls (range 0.62-3.77), 2.96 emails (range 1.50-5.88), and 0.15 home visits (range 0-0.69) per week. During exit interviews, > 80% of patients, caregivers, and clinicians found the intervention to be helpful and convenient, and they reported high satisfaction with the communication among patients, clinicians, and the hospital in the home team. Patients receiving the intervention had lower rates of treatment delays (55.0% v 75.0%), urgent clinic visits (10.0% v 25.0%), ER visits or hospitalizations (45.0% v 62.5%), as well as a lower proportion of days spent in urgent clinic, ER, or hospital (2.7% v 7.8%), compared with those not receiving the intervention who were in the same parent trial. Conclusions: These findings demonstrate the feasibility and acceptability of a Supportive Oncology Care at Home intervention. Future work will investigate the efficacy of this intervention for decreasing healthcare use and improving patient outcomes. Clinical trial information: NCT03798769.