Effect of the Utrecht Symptom Diary on multidisciplinary Symptom Management Performance: A pilot study in glioma patients

Abstract

Title: Effect of the Utrecht Symptom Diary (USD) on multidisciplinary Symptom Management Performance (SMP): A pilot study in glioma patients. Background: Patients suffering from cancer have to cope with various symptoms. Adequate symptom management reduces patients’ symptom burden and improves quality of life. To improve symptom management the USD was developed for early signaling and monitoring of symptoms. In the USD process intervention patients, nurses and doctors are instructed to use the USD in clinical practice. After development of the intervention, assessing feasibility of study procedures is the next step prior to an effect study. Aims: The primary objective of this study is to assess the feasibility of study procedures in terms of recruitment and data collection. The secondary objective is to gain insight in preliminary results of the USD process intervention on multidisciplinary SMP. Method: A pilot study with a cross-sectional design was conducted in glioma patients in a clinical ward. A pre-posttest approach was applied to gain insight into the preliminary results of the USD process intervention on SMP measured by a patient satisfaction questionnaire. Results: The recruitment rate in this study was 0,58. Patient satisfaction in SMP showed a significant difference in involvement of relatives in symptom treatment, the evaluation of symptom treatment and the nurse's expertise regarding symptoms. Conclusion: The recruitment rate of 0,58 seemed to be affected by the senior nurse. Patients are satisfied before and after the intervention. Patient satisfaction does not seem be discriminatory enough to indicate a difference in SMP. Recommendation: Improving the process of identification of eligible patient could improve the recruitment. It is recommended to not include this outcome in the main study. SPM could be approached from other perspectives.