What occurs in the other 20% of cancer patients with chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV)? A single-institution qualitative study.

PURPOSE: Despite recent advances in prophylaxis and management, 20% of patients who receive moderately to severely emetogenic chemotherapy continue to experience nausea and vomiting. Relying on patients' own words, this study sought to capture and characterize the lived experience with chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) for this important subgroup of patients. METHODS: Solid tumor patients with a history of poorly controlled CINV provided informed consent and participated in a semi-structured interview, which was audio-recorded and transcribed. After data saturation, enrollment ceased, and inductive, qualitative analytic methods were employed. RESULTS: The median age of the 20 enrolled patients was 56 years (range 27-83) with an equal gender split; half had gastrointestinal cancers. Two themes emerged. First, CINV is severe and multidimensional: "It's like shredding your muscles… It's doing it over and over again." This symptom complex has psychosocial implications: "Isolation is a big thing." Financial toxicity is also implicated: "I use [an antiemetic] when I feel like it is absolutely necessary because it is so expensive I cannot afford it anyway." The second theme is underreporting of symptoms. Patients seemed to accept N/V as part of treatment and were therefore less forthcoming: "God, if you're pumping poison in your system, you gotta expect some side effects." CONCLUSIONS: These vivid data should motivate investigators to continue conducting clinical trials CINV and should remind healthcare providers about the importance of patient education on the availability of therapy for breakthrough symptomatology.

Chemotherapy scheduling template development using an optimization approach.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this paper is to develop a chemotherapy scheduling template that accounts for nurse resource availability and patient treatment needs to alleviate the mid-day patient load and provide quality services for patients. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: Owing to treatment complexity in chemotherapy administration, nurses are required at the beginning, end and during treatment. When nurses are not available to continue treatment, the service is compromised, and the resource constraint is violated, which leads to inevitable delay that risks service quality. Consequently, an optimization method is used to create a scheduling template that minimizes the violation between resource assignment and treatment requirements, while leveling patient load throughout a day. A case study from a typical clinic day is presented to understand current scheduling issues, describe nursing resource constraints, and develop a constraint-based optimization model and leveling algorithm for the final template. FINDINGS: The approach is expected to reduce the variation in the system by 24 percent and result in five fewer chemo chairs used during peak hours. Adjusting staffing levels could further reduce resource constraint violations and more savings on chair occupancy. The actual implementation results indicate a 33 percent reduction on resource constraint violations and positive feedback from nursing staff for workload. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS: Other delays, including laboratory test, physician visit and treatment assignment, are potential research areas. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: The study demonstrates significant improvement in mid-day patient load and meeting treatment needs using optimization with a unique objective.

Should Vital Signs Be Routinely Obtained Prior to Intravenous Chemotherapy? Results From a 2-Center Study.

BACKGROUND: The American Society of Clinical Oncology and the Oncology Nursing Society have issued guidelines stating that the vital signs of patients should be routinely checked on days that intravenous chemotherapy is administered. This study sought evidence to justify this approach. METHODS: This trial focused on consecutive patients with cancer from 2 institutions and evaluated outcomes during the first cycle of gemcitabine-based chemotherapy. The primary end point of the study was a visit to the ED, hospitalization, or death during the first cycle of chemotherapy. RESULTS: Medical records from 1,158 patients were reviewed, and vital signs were checked in 589 patients on day 1 and in 486 on day 8. A total of 148 patients (12.8%) were evaluated in the emergency department (ED), 145 (12.5%) were hospitalized, and 11 (0.9%) died during their first cycle of chemotherapy. In multivariate analyses, which were adjusted for age, sex, cancer type, role of chemotherapy, number of chemotherapy drugs administered on day 1, and institution, checking vital signs on day 1 was associated with neither higher rates of ED visits nor with increased hospitalization; however, checking vital signs on day 8 was associated with higher rates of ED visits (odds ratio [OR]: 3.71; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.18-6.22; P < .0001) and higher rates of hospitalizations (OR: 3.98; 95% CI: 2.34-6.73; P < .0001). CONCLUSION: This study suggests a need for additional, evidence-based data to support the routine checking of vital signs prior to administering cancer chemotherapy.

Randomized, Double-Blind Trial on the Impact of Word Count in Cancer Clinical Trial Consent Forms.

PURPOSE: This randomized, double-blind study sought to understand whether cancer clinical trial consent form verbosity detracts from patients' decision making on trial enrollment. METHODS: This trial tested mock consent forms of 2,000, 4,000, and 6,000 words. The first two comprised the two experimental arms and the third the control arm. Phase II was conducted to identify the promising arm, which, in phase III, was compared with the control arm. Each consent form described the same trial. Eligible adult patients reported a cancer history and English literacy. The primary end point used a patient-reported Likert scale to assess the relationship between information in the consent form and trial decision making. RESULTS: In phase II, 93 patients were accrued and prompted the selection of the 2,000-word consent form for phase III. In phase III, 182 patients were recruited, resulting in 240 total evaluable patients to compare the 2,000-word versus the 6,000-word arm (control). For the primary end point, 103 (84%) and 107 (91%) patients in the 2,000- and 6,000-word arms, respectively, strongly agreed or agreed with the following: "The information in this consent form helped me make a decision about whether or not to enroll in the trial" (two-sided, P = .14). Median time to read each consent form was 8 and 12 minutes, respectively (two-sided, P < .0001). Among those assigned these consent forms, 84% and 73%, respectively (two-sided, P = .04) signed or expressed a willingness to sign. CONCLUSION: This study's primary end point was not met. However, secondary outcomes suggest a need to further study the efficiency and efficacy of shorter consent forms for cancer clinical trial enrollment.

Cancer patients and their companion animals: results from a 309-patient survey on pet-related concerns and anxieties during chemotherapy.

The purpose of this study was to explore whether cancer patients, who are actively receiving cancer therapy and who sometimes have only a few months to live, have anxieties or concerns that arise as a result of not being able to care for their pets during their illness or after their demise. A survey was developed and utilized among such patients to assess whether they had pet-related concerns and anxieties and to determine whether they desired more information on available pet-related resources. Three hundred nine patients completed the survey, and 170 (55%) had a pet(s). The majority described that their pets helped them during their cancer. Only 4% of all patients and 7% of the pet owners desired more information on community resources for pet care, and 80% of pet owners had family members who were already helping them with pet care. Cancer patients appear to benefit from their pets and report few pet-related concerns. Healthcare providers at other medical centers should consider determining whether their patients have needs and anxieties related to caring for their pets and whether educational efforts should be put forth to focus on such issues.

Alternative Outpatient Chemotherapy Scheduling Method to Improve Patient Service Quality and Nurse Satisfaction.

INTRODUCTION: Optimal scheduling and calendar management in an outpatient chemotherapy unit is a complex process that is driven by a need to focus on safety while accommodating a high degree of variability. Primary constraints are infusion times, staffing resources, chair availability, and unit hours. METHODS: We undertook a process to analyze our existing management models across multiple practice settings in our health care system, then developed a model to optimize safety and efficiency. The model was tested in one of the community chemotherapy units. We assessed staffing violations as measured by nurse-to-patient ratios throughout the workday and at key points during treatment. Staffing violations were tracked before and after the implementation of the new model. RESULTS: The new model reduced staffing violations by nearly 50% and required fewer chairs to treat the same number of patients for the selected clinic day. Actual implementation results indicated that the new model leveled the distribution of patients across the workday with an 18% reduction in maximum chair utilization and a 27% reduction in staffing violations. Subsequently, a positive impact on peak pharmacy workload reduced delays by as much as 35 minutes. Nursing staff satisfaction with the new model was positive. CONCLUSION: We conclude that the proposed optimization approach with regard to nursing resource assignment and workload balance throughout a day effectively improves patient service quality and staff satisfaction.

Chemotherapy Acute Infusion Reactions: A Qualitative Report of the Perspectives of Patients With Cancer.

OBJECTIVE: A growing number of cancer antineoplastic agents can cause life-threatening acute infusion reactions. Because previous studies have not studied these reactions from the perspective of patients, this study was undertaken with that objective in mind. METHODS: Patients who had an acute infusion reaction were interviewed based on the Leventhal model. Once saturation of content was achieved, interviews were transcribed and analyzed with qualitative methodology. RESULTS: Twenty-one patients were enrolled. Most were women (n = 15); the median age was 58 years, and paclitaxel was the most common inciting agent. Three themes emerged. First, these reactions are frightening; patients made remarks such as "I was just thinking oh my God, I am dying." Second, prior education about these reactions seemed to mitigate this fear, "Basically everything the nurses told me potentially could happen, like happened. So, I was prepared." Third, when health-care providers were prompt and attentive during the reaction, patients described less fear with future chemotherapy, "So no, I'm really not fearful about going in tomorrow because I know they'll be there and they'll be watching me." CONCLUSION: These reactions evoke fear which can be mitigated with education prior to and with prompt responsiveness during the acute infusion reaction.

Physical activity in patients with advanced-stage cancer actively receiving chemotherapy.

Exercise has mental and physical health benefits for patients with advanced stage cancer who actively receive chemotherapy, yet little is known about patients'levels of interest in becoming more active or their confidence in increasing their activity level. A convenience sample of 128 patients with advanced-stage cancer who were receiving chemotherapy completed self-report measures assessing physical activity level, mood, and quality-of-life variables. Qualitative data on patient-perceived benefits of, and barriers to, physical activity also were collected, coded by independent raters, and organized by predominant themes. Fatigue was the most frequently listed barrier to physical activity; improved physical strength and health were the most commonly listed benefits. Participants identified benefits related to both general health and cancer-symptom management that were related to exercise. Over 50% of participants reported that they were seriously planning to increase or maintain their physical activity level, and 47% reported having interest in receiving an intervention to become more active. Future research will investigate how these findings may be incorporated into physical activity interventions for advanced-stage oncology patients receiving medical treatment.

Hand Massage for Cancer Patients Undergoing Chemotherapy as Outpatients: A Pilot Study.

CONTEXT: There are no studies on the effect of volunteer-provided hand massage in a busy chemotherapy outpatient practice. OBJECTIVE: To assess the feasibility of introducing hand massage therapy into an outpatient chemotherapy unit and to evaluate the effect of the therapy on various symptoms experienced by cancer patients. DESIGN: A pilot, quasi-experimental, pretest-posttest study. SETTING: Chemotherapy outpatient clinic of a large tertiary care academic medical center. PATIENTS/PARTICIPANTS: Forty chemotherapy outpatients. INTERVENTION: After being approached by a trained volunteer from a hand massage team, patients consented to receive a 20-minute hand massage before chemotherapy that was individualized according to patient preference and expressed needs. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The visual analog scale (VAS) was used to measure pain, fatigue, anxiety, muscular discomfort, nervousness, stress, happiness, energy, relaxation, calmness, and emotional well-being (on a scale from 0-10) before and after the intervention; a satisfaction survey was administered after the therapy. Patients' demographic data were summarized with descriptive statistics, and VAS total scores were compared between groups at each time point with the two-group t test. Feasibility was evaluated from the number of patients who were approached, received a hand massage, and completed the study surveys. RESULTS: Of the 40 participants, 19 were men (mean age, 59.5 years). Significant improvement after hand massage was indicated by VAS scores for fatigue, anxiety, muscular discomfort, nervousness, stress, happiness, energy, relaxation, calmness, and emotional well-being (P < .05). Pain scores also improved, but the difference was not statistically significant (P = .06). All patients indicated that they would recommend hand massage to other patients, and 37 were interested in receiving it during their next chemotherapy treatment.

Capecitabine and temozolomide: design, implementation, and preliminary outcomes from a pilot project to ensure safe prescribing of oral chemotherapy.

Without adequate safety measures, oral chemotherapy can lead to undetected dosing errors. The Mayo Clinic launched a project to ensure that all capecitabine and temozolomide prescriptions receive an independent double check.

Are cancer survivors/patients knowledgeable about osteoporosis? Results from a survey of 285 chemotherapy-treated cancer patients and their companions.

OBJECTIVE: This study assessed osteoporosis knowledge deficits among cancer patients and their spouses/partners. DESIGN: Single-institution survey (modified version of the Osteoporosis Knowledge Assessment Tool). SETTING: The Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. PARTICIPANTS: Consecutive chemotherapy-treated cancer patients (n = 285) with their spouses/partners (n = 101). OUTCOME MEASURES: The main outcome was the percentage of cancer patients who incorrectly conveyed that 1) cancer treatment strengthens bones (or did not know) and/or 2) male cancer patients are not at risk for osteoporosis (or did not know). ANALYSES: Test scores and 95% confidence intervals (CI) as well as the correlation between patient and spouse/partner scores, are reported. RESULTS: 39% of patients (95% CI, 32% - 48%) thought cancer treatment strengthened bones or did not know, and 39% (95% CI, 32% - 48%) either answered that osteoporosis almost never occurred in men or did not know. The mean correct score on the modified Osteoporosis Knowledge Assessment Tool was 6.7 (95% CI, 6.7, 7.9), and scores from patients correlated with companion scores (r = 0.42; P < .001). CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Chemotherapy-treated cancer patients and their companions have knowledge deficits concerning osteoporosis. Educational initiatives to increase awareness may be of value.