Randomized Trial of eOncoNote

Improving Cancer Care Together Through eOncoNote

Improving Cancer Care Together through eOncoNote is a pragmatic randomized trial involving a secure online eConsultation system (referred to as eOncoNote) that will allow primary care providers and cancer specialist providers to communicate about their patients.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Breast Cancer; Colorectal Cancer; Lung Cancer; Prostate Cancer; Remote Consultation; Communication Research; Program, Communication
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: eOncoNote

Detailed Description

The overall objectives of this randomized trial are to test an intervention designed to improve coordination/continuity of care between primary care providers (PCPs) and cancer specialist providers (CSPs), and to improve patient experience with regards to patients' perceived continuity of care. Participants will be patients at The Ottawa Hospital Cancer Centre in any one of three phases of the cancer continuum: diagnosis (colorectal, prostate, or lung cancer), active treatment (breast or prostate cancer) or survivorship (breast or colorectal cancer). The intervention involves a secure online eConsultation system that will allow PCPs and CSPs to communicate about their patient. Patients will be randomly allocated to one of two groups: 1) intervention group whereby their PCP and CSP will use a cancer-specific modification of the eConsultation system (eOncoNote) in addition to usual methods of communication or 2) control group receiving usual care (i.e. usual methods of communication such as telephone, fax, mailed consultation letters and progress notes). Randomization and outcomes will be at the level of the individual patient. The primary outcome is patients' perception of team/cross-boundary continuity. Secondary outcomes include measures of patients' anxiety and depression, and patients' experience of the care process. Qualitative methods including interviews with patients, PCPs, CSPs, and cancer system managers will also be conducted.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 181
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Canada
  • Ontario
    • Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1H 8L6
      • The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Patient inclusion criteria:

• at least 18 years of age,

• being in one of the following three cancer continuum specific phases:

  1. Diagnosis phase: patients referred to the Cancer Assessment Clinic with suspected colorectal, prostate, or lung cancer;
  2. Treatment phase: patients receiving adjuvant chemotherapy for early stage breast cancer, or radical or adjuvant radiation therapy for localized prostate cancer;
  3. Survivorship phase: patients referred to the Wellness Beyond Cancer Program post completion of their adjuvant therapy for either breast or colorectal cancer with the intent of being discharged for survivorship care to their own family physician;
• no prior history of cancer in the past 5 years (those with non-melanoma skin cancer can participate).

Patient exclusion criteria:

• Currently participating in another study requiring ongoing completion of patient reported outcome measures (such as quality of life measures) in order to minimize respondent burden,
• Does not have a primary care provider,
• Patients will be excluded if their primary care provider has another patient enrolled in the trial in order to control for contamination between randomization groups,
• Inability to read and write in English,
• Inability to provide informed consent, and
• In the survivorship phase, patients who are discharged to the Wellness Beyond Cancer Program nurse practitioner (rather than their primary care providers) will be excluded.

Primary care providers eligibility criteria:

• Licensed family physician or nurse practitioner,
• Their patient has consented to be enrolled in the study, and they do not have any other patients enrolled in the study (to avoid contamination between intervention and control groups),
• They are already registered on the Champlain BASE(TM) eConsult system prior to their patient being enrolled in the study.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Intervention group; Primary care providers whose patients have been randomized to the intervention group will receive an invitation from their patient's cancer specialist provider to communicate using eOncoNote. Primary care providers and cancer specialist providers will use eOncoNote in addition to usual methods of communication.	Behavioral: eOncoNote; Diagnosis phase: The patient's nurse navigator will initiate an eOncoNote to the patient's PCP, inviting them to send any questions related to the patient's diagnostic process. The nurse navigator will initiate case closure after the diagnostic process has been completed (case will be open up to 4 months).; Treatment phase: The patient's medical or radiation oncologist will initiate an eOncoNote to the patient's PCP inviting them to ask questions related to the patient's cancer treatment and/or request information related to the patient's co-morbidities. The oncologist will initiate case closure after the treatment has been completed.; Survivorship phase: The patient's registered nurse within the Wellness Beyond Cancer Program will send an eOncoNote invitation to the patient's PCP inviting them to ask any questions as the patient transitions back to their care. The nurse will initiate case closure after one year.
No Intervention: Control group; Primary care providers whose patients have been randomized to the control group will receive usual care (i.e. their primary care providers will not access eOncoNote to communicate with the cancer specialist providers and vice versa) and will be able to contact each other via telephone, fax, and mail consultation letters and progress notes, as per usual care.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Team/Cross Boundary Continuity subscale of the Nijmegen Continuity Questionnaire	4-item subscale (scored on a five-point scale ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree); calculate the mean of the items in the subscale	Follow-up 2 = Diagnosis: 2 weeks; Treatment: 4 months for prostate cancer patients, 6 months for breast cancer patients; Survivorship: 12 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Anxiety	Generalized Anxiety Disorder Screener (GAD-7); 7 items; 4 response options ("not at all" = 0; "several days" = 1; "more than half the days" = 2; "nearly every day" = 3)	(Follow-up 1 = Treatment: 1 month; Survivorship: 6 months); (Follow-up 2 = Diagnosis: 2 weeks; Treatment: 4 months for prostate cancer patients, 6 months for breast cancer patients; Survivorship: 12 months)
Depression	Patient Health Questionnaire on major depression (PHQ-9); 10 items in total; items 1-9: 4 response options ("not at all" = 0; "several days" = 1; "more than half the days" = 2; "nearly every day" = 3); item 10: four-point scale (ranging from "not difficult at all" to "extremely difficult")	(Follow-up 1 = Treatment: 1 month; Survivorship: 6 months); (Follow-up 2 = Diagnosis: 2 weeks; Treatment: 4 months for prostate cancer patients, 6 months for breast cancer patients; Survivorship: 12 months)
Patient experience of the care process	Picker Patient Experience Questionnaire (PPE-15); 15 items; each item scored as dichotomous score indicating presence or absence of a problem (defined as an aspect of health care that could be improved upon from the patient's perspective)	(Follow-up 1 = Treatment: 1 month; Survivorship: 6 months); (Follow-up 2 = Diagnosis: 2 weeks; Treatment: 4 months for prostate cancer patients, 6 months for breast cancer patients; Survivorship: 12 months)

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Team/Cross Boundary Continuity subscale of the Nijmegen Continuity Questionnaire	4-item subscale (scored on a five-point scale ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree); calculate the mean of the items in the subscale	Follow-up 1 = Treatment: 1 month; Survivorship: 6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Toronto
• Collaborators: Ontario Clinical Oncology Group (OCOG); Ottawa Regional Cancer Centre
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Eva Grunfeld, MD, DPhil, University of Toronto

Publications and helpful links

Helpful Links

• CanIMPACT Website
• Champlain BASE eConsult Website

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): February 5, 2018
• Primary Completion (Actual): August 31, 2020
• Study Completion (Actual): February 17, 2021

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 25, 2017
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 3, 2017
• First Posted (Actual): November 7, 2017

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 29, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 27, 2021
• Last Verified: April 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Primary Care; Oncology; Communication; Continuity of care; Integration of care
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Digestive System Diseases; Neoplasms; Neoplasms by Site; Gastrointestinal Neoplasms; Digestive System Neoplasms; Gastrointestinal Diseases; Colonic Diseases; Intestinal Diseases; Intestinal Neoplasms; Rectal Diseases; Colorectal Neoplasms
• Other Study ID Numbers: OHSN-REB#20170381-01H; 128272 (Other Grant/Funding Number: Canadian Institutes of Health Research)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: No

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No