{"id":68757,"date":"2025-02-17T09:55:53","date_gmt":"2025-02-17T14:55:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/?p=68757"},"modified":"2025-02-17T09:55:53","modified_gmt":"2025-02-17T14:55:53","slug":"electronic-reporting-of-symptoms-by-cancer-patients-can-improve-quality-of-life-and-reduce-emergency-visits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/electronic-reporting-of-symptoms-by-cancer-patients-can-improve-quality-of-life-and-reduce-emergency-visits\/","title":{"rendered":"Electronic reporting of symptoms by cancer patients can improve quality of life and reduce emergency visits"},"content":{"rendered":"

People with metastatic cancer who regularly report their symptoms via a home-based electronic monitoring system experienced improved quality of life, clinical outcomes and well-being, as well as fewer emergency department visits than those who didn\u2019t file reports. Both groups had similar overall survival rates, according to University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers and their colleagues.<\/p>\n

The results from the national multicenter study appeared in Nature Medicine<\/a> on Feb. 7.<\/p>\n

\"Headshot
Ethan Basch, MD, MSc.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cDoctors and nurses are often unaware of symptoms and side effects that can worsen for cancer patients between office visits, leading to complications and unnecessary suffering,\u201d said lead author Ethan Basch, MD, MSc<\/a>, the Richard M. Goldberg Distinguished Professor of Medicine and chief of the Division of Oncology.\u00a0\u201cThe patient-reported outcomes, or PRO, system was developed to enable patients to report their own symptoms and side effects and our study showed that PRO keeps care teams informed so that they can intervene promptly to help patients.\u201d<\/p>\n

The PRO-TECT randomized clinical trial was conducted in 52 community oncology practices in 26 states to assess the real-world impact of electronic PRO symptom monitoring on clinical outcomes compared to usual care.<\/p>\n

The study enrolled 1,191 patients. To determine if symptom monitoring with the electronic PRO system improved outcomes, roughly half (593) of the patients were randomly assigned to the PRO arm and the remaining (598) were assigned to the usual care\/control arm. Patients in the PRO arm could report their symptoms using a web-based program or an automated telephone system.<\/p>\n

Read the full story at UNC Lineberger.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

People with metastatic cancer who regularly report their symptoms via a home-based electronic monitoring system experienced improved quality of life, clinical outcomes and well-being, as well as fewer emergency department visits than those who didn\u2019t file reports. Both groups had similar overall survival rates, according to University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112673,"featured_media":4117,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"layout":"","cellInformation":"","apiCallInformation":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2,517,92,583],"tags":[686],"class_list":["post-68757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-oncology","category-research","category-research-news","tag-686","odd"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nElectronic reporting of symptoms by cancer patients can improve quality of life and reduce emergency visits | Department of Medicine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/electronic-reporting-of-symptoms-by-cancer-patients-can-improve-quality-of-life-and-reduce-emergency-visits\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Electronic reporting of symptoms by cancer patients can improve quality of life and reduce emergency visits | Department of Medicine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"People with metastatic cancer who regularly report their symptoms via a home-based electronic monitoring system experienced improved quality of life, clinical outcomes and well-being, as well as fewer emergency department visits than those who didn\u2019t file reports. Both groups had similar overall survival rates, according to University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers … Read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/electronic-reporting-of-symptoms-by-cancer-patients-can-improve-quality-of-life-and-reduce-emergency-visits\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Department of Medicine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UNCDeptMedicine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-17T14:55:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/945\/2018\/12\/basch-research-image2.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Morgan Duerden\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@uncdeptmedicine\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@uncdeptmedicine\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Morgan Duerden\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/electronic-reporting-of-symptoms-by-cancer-patients-can-improve-quality-of-life-and-reduce-emergency-visits\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/electronic-reporting-of-symptoms-by-cancer-patients-can-improve-quality-of-life-and-reduce-emergency-visits\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Morgan Duerden\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/#\/schema\/person\/99bd6d3f6c7b07d9e318254957f14bf9\"},\"headline\":\"Electronic reporting of symptoms by cancer patients can improve quality of life and reduce emergency visits\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-17T14:55:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/electronic-reporting-of-symptoms-by-cancer-patients-can-improve-quality-of-life-and-reduce-emergency-visits\/\"},\"wordCount\":272,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/electronic-reporting-of-symptoms-by-cancer-patients-can-improve-quality-of-life-and-reduce-emergency-visits\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/945\/2018\/12\/basch-research-image2.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"2025\"],\"articleSection\":[\"News\",\"Oncology\",\"Research\",\"Research News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/electronic-reporting-of-symptoms-by-cancer-patients-can-improve-quality-of-life-and-reduce-emergency-visits\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/electronic-reporting-of-symptoms-by-cancer-patients-can-improve-quality-of-life-and-reduce-emergency-visits\/\",\"name\":\"Electronic reporting of symptoms by cancer patients can improve quality of life and reduce emergency visits | Department of Medicine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/electronic-reporting-of-symptoms-by-cancer-patients-can-improve-quality-of-life-and-reduce-emergency-visits\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/electronic-reporting-of-symptoms-by-cancer-patients-can-improve-quality-of-life-and-reduce-emergency-visits\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/945\/2018\/12\/basch-research-image2.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-17T14:55:53+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/#\/schema\/person\/99bd6d3f6c7b07d9e318254957f14bf9\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/electronic-reporting-of-symptoms-by-cancer-patients-can-improve-quality-of-life-and-reduce-emergency-visits\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/electronic-reporting-of-symptoms-by-cancer-patients-can-improve-quality-of-life-and-reduce-emergency-visits\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/electronic-reporting-of-symptoms-by-cancer-patients-can-improve-quality-of-life-and-reduce-emergency-visits\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/945\/2018\/12\/basch-research-image2.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/945\/2018\/12\/basch-research-image2.jpeg\",\"width\":400,\"height\":500,\"caption\":\"Ethan Basch, MD\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/electronic-reporting-of-symptoms-by-cancer-patients-can-improve-quality-of-life-and-reduce-emergency-visits\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Electronic reporting of symptoms by cancer patients can improve quality of life and reduce emergency visits\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/\",\"name\":\"Department of Medicine\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/#\/schema\/person\/99bd6d3f6c7b07d9e318254957f14bf9\",\"name\":\"Morgan Duerden\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/57f0eedf80fc45b7a94c3d33d08ce4aa6767c429f14f57947b631c0f284f6cc2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/57f0eedf80fc45b7a94c3d33d08ce4aa6767c429f14f57947b631c0f284f6cc2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Morgan Duerden\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/author\/duerdenm\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Electronic reporting of symptoms by cancer patients can improve quality of life and reduce emergency visits | Department of Medicine","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/electronic-reporting-of-symptoms-by-cancer-patients-can-improve-quality-of-life-and-reduce-emergency-visits\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Electronic reporting of symptoms by cancer patients can improve quality of life and reduce emergency visits | Department of Medicine","og_description":"People with metastatic cancer who regularly report their symptoms via a home-based electronic monitoring system experienced improved quality of life, clinical outcomes and well-being, as well as fewer emergency department visits than those who didn\u2019t file reports. Both groups had similar overall survival rates, according to University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers … Read more","og_url":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/electronic-reporting-of-symptoms-by-cancer-patients-can-improve-quality-of-life-and-reduce-emergency-visits\/","og_site_name":"Department of Medicine","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UNCDeptMedicine","article_published_time":"2025-02-17T14:55:53+00:00","og_image":[{"width":400,"height":500,"url":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/945\/2018\/12\/basch-research-image2.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Morgan Duerden","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@uncdeptmedicine","twitter_site":"@uncdeptmedicine","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Morgan Duerden","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/electronic-reporting-of-symptoms-by-cancer-patients-can-improve-quality-of-life-and-reduce-emergency-visits\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/electronic-reporting-of-symptoms-by-cancer-patients-can-improve-quality-of-life-and-reduce-emergency-visits\/"},"author":{"name":"Morgan Duerden","@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/#\/schema\/person\/99bd6d3f6c7b07d9e318254957f14bf9"},"headline":"Electronic reporting of symptoms by cancer patients can improve quality of life and reduce emergency visits","datePublished":"2025-02-17T14:55:53+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/electronic-reporting-of-symptoms-by-cancer-patients-can-improve-quality-of-life-and-reduce-emergency-visits\/"},"wordCount":272,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/electronic-reporting-of-symptoms-by-cancer-patients-can-improve-quality-of-life-and-reduce-emergency-visits\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/945\/2018\/12\/basch-research-image2.jpeg","keywords":["2025"],"articleSection":["News","Oncology","Research","Research News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/electronic-reporting-of-symptoms-by-cancer-patients-can-improve-quality-of-life-and-reduce-emergency-visits\/","url":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/electronic-reporting-of-symptoms-by-cancer-patients-can-improve-quality-of-life-and-reduce-emergency-visits\/","name":"Electronic reporting of symptoms by cancer patients can improve quality of life and reduce emergency visits | Department of Medicine","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/electronic-reporting-of-symptoms-by-cancer-patients-can-improve-quality-of-life-and-reduce-emergency-visits\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/electronic-reporting-of-symptoms-by-cancer-patients-can-improve-quality-of-life-and-reduce-emergency-visits\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/945\/2018\/12\/basch-research-image2.jpeg","datePublished":"2025-02-17T14:55:53+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/#\/schema\/person\/99bd6d3f6c7b07d9e318254957f14bf9"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/electronic-reporting-of-symptoms-by-cancer-patients-can-improve-quality-of-life-and-reduce-emergency-visits\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/electronic-reporting-of-symptoms-by-cancer-patients-can-improve-quality-of-life-and-reduce-emergency-visits\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/electronic-reporting-of-symptoms-by-cancer-patients-can-improve-quality-of-life-and-reduce-emergency-visits\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/945\/2018\/12\/basch-research-image2.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/945\/2018\/12\/basch-research-image2.jpeg","width":400,"height":500,"caption":"Ethan Basch, MD"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/electronic-reporting-of-symptoms-by-cancer-patients-can-improve-quality-of-life-and-reduce-emergency-visits\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Electronic reporting of symptoms by cancer patients can improve quality of life and reduce emergency visits"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/","name":"Department of Medicine","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/#\/schema\/person\/99bd6d3f6c7b07d9e318254957f14bf9","name":"Morgan Duerden","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/57f0eedf80fc45b7a94c3d33d08ce4aa6767c429f14f57947b631c0f284f6cc2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/57f0eedf80fc45b7a94c3d33d08ce4aa6767c429f14f57947b631c0f284f6cc2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Morgan Duerden"},"url":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/author\/duerdenm\/"}]}},"featured_image":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/945\/2018\/12\/basch-research-image2.jpeg","featured_image_medium":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/945\/2018\/12\/basch-research-image2-240x300.jpeg","featured_image_medium_large":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/945\/2018\/12\/basch-research-image2.jpeg","featured_image_large":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/945\/2018\/12\/basch-research-image2.jpeg","featured_image_thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/945\/2018\/12\/basch-research-image2-150x150.jpeg","featured_image_alt":"Ethan Basch, MD","category_details":[{"name":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/category\/news\/"},{"name":"Oncology","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/category\/oncology\/"},{"name":"Research","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/category\/research\/"},{"name":"Research News","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/category\/research-news\/"}],"tag_details":[{"name":"2025","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/tag\/2025\/"}],"_links_to":[],"_links_to_target":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/112673"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68757\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}