'For some cancer patients, monitoring symptoms can extend their lives'
NOVEMBER 2019
The use of Patient-Reported Outcome Measures to improve cancer survival was highlighted again in this Washington Post article.
Building upon key studies by Basch et al., the article discusses research by Cancer Care Ontario between 2007 and 2015 whereby patients who answered at least one survey during treatment were more than half as likely to have died during the study period than those who did not answer any surveys.
The article gives further backing to the use of patient reported outcomes in routine clinical practice and emphasises the importance of the shift towards more patient-centred care across oncology.
“There is a strong argument to be made for using these measures in routine care…this idea, that we have to change how we do our assessments with patients, is paradigm-shifting.”
Dr Lisa Barbera, University of Calgary, 2019