Feasibility and User Experience of Digital Patient Monitoring for Real-World Patients With Lung or Breast Cancer

Abstract

Background: Digital patient monitoring (DPM) tools can facilitate early symptom management for patients with cancer through systematic symptom reporting; however, low adherence can be a challenge. We assessed patient/healthcare professional (HCP) use of DPM in routine clinical practice.

Materials and methods: Patients with locally advanced/metastatic lung cancer or HER2-positive breast cancer received locally approved/reimbursed drugs alongside DPM, with elements tailored by F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, on the Kaiku Health DPM platform. Patient access to the DPM tool was through their own devices (eg, laptops, PCs, smartphones, or tablets), via either a browser or an app on Apple iOS or Android devices. Coprimary endpoints were patient DPM tool adoption (positive threshold: 60%) and week 1-6 adherence to weekly symptom reporting (positive threshold: 70%). Secondary endpoints included experience and clinical impact.

Results: At data cutoff (June 9, 2022), adoption was 85% and adherence was 76%. Customer satisfaction and effort scores for patients were 76% and 82%, respectively, and 83% and 79% for HCPs. Patients spent approximately 10 minutes using the DPM tool and completed approximately 1.0 symptom questionnaires per week (completion time 1-4 minutes). HCPs spent approximately 1-3 minutes a week using the tool per patient. Median time to HCP review for alerted versus non-alerted symptom questionnaires was 19.6 versus 21.5 hours. Most patients and HCPs felt that the DPM tool covered/mostly covered symptoms experienced (71% and 75%), was educational (65% and 92%), and improved patient-HCP conversations (70% and 83%) and cancer care (51% and 71%).

Conclusion: The DPM tool demonstrated positive adoption, adherence, and user experience for patients with lung/breast cancer, suggesting that DPM tools may benefit clinical cancer care.

Keywords: breast cancer; digital patient monitoring; eHealth; lung cancer; patient-reported outcomes; symptom monitoring.

Figure 1.

Patient adherence to symptom self-reporting over time. Patient numbers (n) represent the number of patients who were expected to complete a symptom questionnaire in the respective study week.

Figure 2.

Patient education and previous messenger app usage. Abbreviation: NA: not applicable.

Figure 3.

Patient and HCP user experience. Abbreviations: CES: customer effort score; CSAT: customer satisfaction score; HCP: healthcare professional; NPS: net promoter score.

Figure 4.

Perceived clinical impact of the DPM tool by HCPs and patients after 6 weeks of use. Abbreviations: DPM: digital patient monitoring; HCP: healthcare professional.