Eliciting educational perspectives of oncology patients, caregivers and clinicians in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic
This study evaluates cancer patient, caregiver, and clinician experiences with the Digital Education Prescription (DEP) platform to improve virtual patient education delivery.
Background
Despite all the advancements, cancer can have devastating effects on different aspects of the patient’s life. Regardless of increased survival rates, cancer patients may have a poor quality-of-life due to various physical incapacities and mental health challenges secondary to their disease-related complications. Existing data links patient education with its role in improving self-care, self-efficacy, adaptability of the patients by teaching them how to modify their lifestyle, approach their health-related problems and, successfully reach their treatment goals. Literature shows that patient education-driven lifestyle modifications lead to remarkable outcomes in treatment. n the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, rapid implementation of virtual healthcare has shown promise for streamlining patient care and education. Although virtual care is vital in these circumstances, there are significant challenges in maintaining patient education standards in the virtual environment, including the patient’s ability to optimally benefitting from the digital education materials on one hand and HCP’s ability to effectively deliver the educational materials on the other hand. Several needs assessments exploring patient education have shown that the patients prefer an in-person delivery of educational materials through their health care provider (HCP).
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the rapid scaling up of virtual care, the Cancer Education Program at Princess Margaret (PM) in Toronto launched a virtual educational gateway called the 'Digital Education Prescription' (DEP) to potentially enhance HCP provision of patient education materials in the virtual context. DEP is a digital doorway to a database of over 1500 patient education materials, including videos, pamphlets, eLearning modules & drug information sheets. The DEP allows HCPs to select and directly email tailored educational materials to patients and their caregivers. tudy Goal: This project's primary purpose is to engage patients, caregivers and clinicians to elicit their educational preferences. This project will also evaluate DEP in coordination with the Cancer Education Program of PM to optimize DEP implementation to facilitate the provision of patient educational materials to cancer patients. The evaluation will provide further insight into the clinicians' perception of patient education, including DEP and patients' satisfaction with education through DEP. The data from this study may inform enhancements to the use of DEP. Methods: The study is divided into 3 phases and is a mixed-method study with a collection of quantitative data in phase 1 and qualitative data in phase 2.
Project team
- Mohammad Sami Al-Katari
- Fatima Naeem
- Shayan Bashir
- Shazmeen Shahed
TRP supervisors
Project advisory committee
- Dr. Janet Papadakos, PMH
- Mr. Mike Lovas, PMH
See our community directory for more on committee members.