TY  - JOUR
AU  - McCann, Lisa
AU  - Lewis, Liane
AU  - Oduntan, Olubukola
AU  - Harris, Jenny
AU  - Darley, Andrew
AU  - Berg, Geir V
AU  - Lubowitzki, Simone
AU  - Cheevers, Katy
AU  - Miller, Morven
AU  - Armes, Jo
AU  - Ream, Emma
AU  - Fox, Patricia
AU  - Furlong, Eileen Patricia
AU  - Gaiger, Alexander
AU  - Kotronoulas, Grigorios
AU  - Patiraki, Elisabeth
AU  - Katsaragakis, Stylianos
AU  - McCrone, Paul
AU  - Miaskowski, Christine
AU  - Cardone, Antonella
AU  - Orr, Dawn
AU  - Flowerday, Adrian
AU  - Skene, Simon
AU  - Moore, Margaret
AU  - De Souza, Nicosha
AU  - Donnan, Peter
AU  - Maguire, Roma
PY  - 2024
DA  - 2024/12/3
TI  - Patients’ and Clinicians’ Experiences Using a Real-Time Remote Monitoring System for Chemotherapy Symptom Management (ASyMS): Qualitative Study
JO  - J Med Internet Res
SP  - e53834
VL  - 26
KW  - cancer
KW  - clinician experiences
KW  - digital interventions
KW  - patient experiences
KW  - remote monitoring
KW  - qualitative methods
AB  - Background: Patients receiving chemotherapy require ongoing symptom monitoring and management to optimize their outcomes. In recent years, digital remote monitoring interventions have emerged to provide enhanced cancer care delivery experiences to patients and clinicians. However, patient and clinician experiential evaluations of these technologies are rare. Therefore, we explored user experiences and perceptions of one such intervention—Advanced Symptom Management System (ASyMS)—after its scaled deployment in the context of the Electronic Symptom Management System Remote Technology (eSMART) trial. The eSMART trial was a large, multicenter randomized controlled trial to evaluate the efficacy of ASyMS in 12 clinical sites in 5 European countries. Objective: In this qualitative study, both patients’ and clinicians’ experiences of using ASyMS for up to 6 cycles of chemotherapy were explored to understand the impact of ASyMS on patients’ experiences, clinical practice, and supportive care delivery. Methods: For this analysis, individual, semistructured, one-to-one interviews with 29 patients with breast, colorectal, and hematological cancers and 18 clinicians from Austria, Greece, Ireland, Norway, and the United Kingdom were conducted. Interviews focused on patients’ and clinicians’ experiences of using ASyMS, care organization and changes in practice following the introduction of ASyMS, perceived changes in care associated with the use of ASyMS, and its potential for future integration into routine chemotherapy care pathways. Results: Thematic analysis identified several themes that describe patients’ and clinicians’ experiences using ASyMS. One central orienting theme—ASyMS as a facilitator of change—was supported by 5 key themes associated with human and technology monitoring: reassurance, enhanced communications and relationships, knowing what is “normal” and what is to be expected, enhancing cancer care experiences, and informing future cancer care. Conclusions: This study is the first to evaluate both patients’ and clinicians’ experiences of using a digital health intervention to remotely monitor chemotherapy symptoms across 5 countries. Experiences with ASyMS were positive from both patients’ and clinicians’ perspectives, although some improvements to support the wider-scale rollout and sustained implementation were identified. Overall, this study demonstrates that real-time remote monitoring systems can help patients feel more reassured during their chemotherapy treatments and can help clinicians provide the right care, at the right time, and in the right place. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02356081; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT02356081 International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID): RR2-10.1136/bmjopen-2016-015016 
SN  - 1438-8871
UR  - https://www.jmir.org/2024/1/e53834
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2196/53834
DO  - 10.2196/53834
ID  - info:doi/10.2196/53834
ER  -