Evaluation of electronic care plan usage and usefulness among breast cancer survivors.

Abstract

83 Background: Survivorship care plans (SCP) are recommended to improve communication between breast cancer survivors (BCS), primary care, and oncology. Objective evaluation of survivor access of specific care plan content is challenging as commonly-used formats (e.g., paper or electronic file) prevent tracking of usage. This project aimed to evaluate the usage and usefulness of an electronic survivorship care plan (eSCP) that could track access and pages visited. Methods: We recruited 128 BCS from outpatient oncology clinics. 121 BCS received eSCP access via an online secure patient portal; seven received paper copies and are not included in this analysis. The research team customized the portal to track eSCP usage and page visits during the study period (at least 12 weeks of eSCP access). The eSCP consisted of four internal pages (Guide, Treatment Summary, Followup Plan, and Glossary) plus 21 external hyperlinks to survivorship resources. eSCP usefulness and understandability were evaluated using 10-item Likert scales: 1 (not at all useful/very hard to understand to 10 very useful/very easy to understand). Results: 90 out of 121 (74.38%) participants accessed the eSCP. The majority accessed the eSCP within two days of receiving access (N = 70/90, 77.8%) and visited 1 to 3 times (N = 81/90, 90%). Treatment Summary was the most frequently visited internal page (158 visits by 69 participants). Other page usage: Followup Plan (124 visits by 65 participants), Guide (113 visits by 62 participants), and Glossary (46 visits by 31 participants). 34 participants (37.78%) accessed external pages from the eSCP. Participants perceived the overall care plan as useful (8.78, 95% CI [8.38, 9.19]) and easy to understand (8.81, 95% CI [8.47, 9.16]). Conclusions: We found high usage rates among BCS provided an eSCP and the majority perceived the eSCP as useful and easy to understand. Based on favorable assessment and use, it is reasonable for eSCPs to serve as a tool to facilitate communication and care coordination for survivors, especially as access to and use of mobile device technology and electronic patient health portals increase. Minority and rural survivors access and use of such features may require further research.

A randomized trial of immediate versus delayed survivorship care plan receipt on patient satisfaction and knowledge of diagnosis and treatment

“…The primary endpoint was change in survivor knowledge. [20][21][22] Secondary endpoints included the impact of SCPs on survivor satisfaction with communication and knowledge as well as survivor use and feedback on SCP content, delivery, and timing.…”