Feasibility of Weekly Integrated Palliative Care Outcome Scale (IPOS) Within a Stepped Care Model

Area of Science:

• Palliative Care
• Oncology
• Digital Health

Background:

• Advanced cancer patients often have unmet symptom and concern needs.
• Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are crucial for identifying these needs.
• Calls for effective patient-reported symptom monitoring systems are increasing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the feasibility of weekly online Integrated Palliative care Outcome Scale (IPOS) administration.
• To assess IPOS completion within a stepped care model for outpatient advanced cancer patients.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of data from a randomized controlled trial's intervention group.
• Weekly online IPOS questionnaires administered for 16 weeks.
• Multivariable logistic regression identified factors associated with questionnaire completion.

Main Results:

• Mean completion rate was 58% (9.2/16 questionnaires) among survivors.
• 48% of patients completed over 70% of questionnaires.
• Higher education correlated with better completion; 71% provided feedback, with most comfortable using the online format.

Conclusions:

• Weekly online IPOS completion was suboptimal in this advanced cancer cohort.
• Patient-reported outcomes require further research for improved clinical integration.
• Strategies to enhance PROM uptake in real-world settings are necessary.