Clinicians' perceived usefulness of a support system for patient-centered cancer care

We investigated the perceived usefulness by 65 nurses and 12 physicians who had used CHOICE, a support system designed to improve patient-centred symptom management for cancer patients at the point of care. Two questionnaires addressed the following aspects: clinicians' usage patterns; ease of use; system ability to improve care planning, understanding of patients' perspectives, and patient-provider communication; attitudes towards patients' involvement in decision making about patient care; and perceived usefulness, defined as a system's ability to enhance work performance. The overall survey response rate was 78%. Clinicians reported that they had used information outputs provided by the CHOICE system on average 50% of the time, but nurses used them significantly more than physicians. The system received high ratings on all aspects of usefulness by both groups, but again, nurses provided consistently higher usefulness ratings than physicians did. There was a strong, significant correlation between patterns of use and perceived usefulness. There were no correlations between perceived usefulness and respondents' age, gender and clinical experience. Results confirm that the CHOICE system can successfully assist nurses and physicians to improve patient care for cancer patients in ongoing practice.