Interactive Voice Response (IVR) Symptom Assessment in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) Patients

Lung Cancer Clinical Trial

Official title:

Using an Interactive Voice Response Telephone System in the Assessment and Management of Symptoms in Advanced Lung Cancer Patients Receiving Chemotherapy

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT00423436
• Other study ID #: ID01-243
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• First received: January 16, 2007
• Last updated: November 14, 2011
• Start date: April 2003
• Est. completion date: February 2011

Study information

• Verified date: November 2011
• Source: M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Health authority: United States: Institutional Review Board
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

Primary Objectives:

• To compare the effectiveness of an interactive voice response (IVR) telephone triage/feedback system versus an interactive voice response telephone system with assessment only in monitoring and managing symptoms in patients with advanced non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

• To compare differences in mood and quality of life variables of patients using the IVR triage/feedback system versus IVR assessment only.

• To compare the healthcare utilization (emergency visits, admissions, length of stay for hospitalizations for uncontrolled symptoms) of patients using the IVR triage/feedback system versus IVR assessment only.

Description:

You will be asked to complete several questionnaires during a visit to the Thoracic Clinic. These questionnaires measure physical and emotional symptoms, and quality of life. Completing the questionnaires takes about 30-45 minutes. The research nurse will also teach you how to use the telephone system for reporting symptoms. You will tell the research nurse when the most convenient times for the telephone calls and the telephone system will be set up to call at those times.

It is not clear at this time whether the telephone symptom evaluation is better than the usual plan that doctors and nurses follow for asking about symptoms. For this reason, you will be randomly picked (as in the toss of a coin) to be in one of two groups. The chance of being in either one of the two programs is about equal.

Half of the patients will be assigned to the "telephone assessment system plus triage" group. If you are assigned to this group, you will report symptoms to the telephone system and the doctor or nurse at M.D. Anderson will be notified when a symptom is severe. You will also be encouraged to report all symptoms to their doctor and nurse at M.D. Anderson.

Half of the patients will be assigned to the "telephone assessment only" group. If you are assigned to this group, your symptom information will only be given through the telephone system. You will also be encouraged to report all symptoms directly to your doctor and nurse at M.D. Anderson. Your physician may request information from the telephone system.

If you are assigned to this "telephone assessment only" group, the telephone system will call you twice a week during 2 cycles of chemotherapy. It is programmed to ask you to rate your symptoms and how much the symptoms interfere in your life. Rating symptoms using the telephone system takes less than five minutes for each call.

After each chemotherapy cycle, you and patients in both groups will be asked to fill out questionnaires during a clinic visit. The questionnaires are used to measure emotional symptoms and quality of life. Completing the questionnaires takes about 15-30 minutes. Your medical charts will also be reviewed and information collected about medical history.

If you have agreed to participate in the companion caregiver study, the study staff will use your demographic and clinical data to study the influence of your symptoms on your caregiver's physical and mental health.

This is an investigational study. About 100 will be enrolled at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. A total of 136 patients will take part in this multicenter study.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 84
• Est. completion date: February 2011
• Est. primary completion date: February 2011
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: Both
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Patients diagnosed with stage III or IV non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) or small cell lung cancer (SCLC) (Patients who have received other prior chemotherapy are eligible.)

• 18 years of age or older

• English-speaking

• Lives in the United States

• Adequate vision and hearing to use the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system

• Provides written informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

• Current diagnosis of psychosis or dementia

• Patients unable to complete the assessment measures or unable to understand the purpose of the study

Study Design

Allocation: Randomized, Endpoint Classification: Efficacy Study, Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment, Masking: Open Label, Primary Purpose: Supportive Care

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung
• Lung Cancer
• Lung Neoplasms

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Questionnaire
Questionnaires taking about 30-45 minutes to complete.
• Interactive Voice Response Telephone System
IVR Only = Phone calls twice weekly, each call lasting less than 5 minutes.
• IVR Plus Triage
IVR system will "triage," or sort, the symptom data by symptom severity, notifying health care professionals when a symptom is greater than the set threshold limit.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	UT MD Anderson Cancer Center	Houston	Texas

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Ratio of Number of Alerts Generated by Symptom Distress Over the Number of Available Assessments	Total number of alerts generated by symptom exceeding prespecified threshold for 7 symptoms - pain, fatigue, nausea, cough, constipation, vomiting and shortness of breath (Ratio alerts/number of assessments using IVR telephone triage/feedback versus IVR only). Reporting 0-10 severity scale of MD Anderson Symptom Inventory from 0 (symptom not present) to 10 (symptom bad as imagine it could be). Thresholds set at 4 on scale for all symptoms except shortness of breath and constipation where threshold set at 2. More than one symptom alert may appear per assessment causing ratio values to exceed 1.	Baseline to end of first chemotherapy cycle (generally chemotherapy and 1 assessment of response within 6-8 weeks)	No

External Links

•   MD Anderson Cancer Center