ESTRO 2024 - Abstract Book

S5720

RTT - Patient experience and quality of life

ESTRO 2024

The implementation of a virtual radiotherapy process specific prehabilitation programme

daniel megias 1 , Lauren Getty 1 , Lucy O'Connell 1 , Yat Man Tsang 2

1 Mount Vernon Cancer Centre, Radiotherapy, London, United Kingdom. 2 Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Radiation Medicine Program, Toronto, Canada

Purpose/Objective:

To evaluate the implementation of a virtual radiotherapy process specific prehabilitation programme in terms of patient reported outcomes (PRO) and healthcare professional’s feedback.

Material/Methods:

In between December 2021 and March 2023, patients who received radiotherapy at our institution were recruited into the study and they were randomly assigned to either the control group – departmental standard of care or the intervention group – with the addition of a virtual radiotherapy process specific prehabilitation consultation prior to the start of radiotherapy. The virtual radiotherapy process specific prehabilitation consultation was conducted by patient access co ordinators (PACs) using telephone; and they were taken within 48 hours of a radiotherapy referral being submitted. PRO were assessed by capturing patient experience and satisfaction at the pre-treatment planning CT appointment through asking all patients to complete a questionnaire including questions with the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) as illustrated in table 1.

Radiation Therapists (RT) and PACs at our institution were invited to complete a staff feedback survey (table 2) to explore their opinion relating to the impact the prehabilitation consultations had on patient experience.

Descriptive statistics of questionnaire scores and thematic review of the qualitative data was undertaken to as part of the evaluation. Mann Whitney U tests were used to determine if the intervention of prehabilitation consultations had improved patient experience in terms of reducing stress, anxiety and depression.

Results:

40 patients were included into the study. The median age was 60 (43-79); all patients received radiotherapy with the radical intent. Statistically significant differences were found between the control and intervention in all STAI and HADS questions (p<0.05). The difference in STAI scores between the two groups suggested that the patients who received a prehabilitation consultation were more likely to experience lower levels of stress and anxiety when attending for the pre treatment planning CT appointments. The differences in the HADS scores between the two groups indicated that the undertaking of the prehabilitation consultations promoted normal levels of anxiety and associated depression in the period preceding attendance of the pre-treatment radiotherapy CT appointments. The sources of anxiety identified ranged from very practical aspects of starting a radiotherapy pathway to more complex requiring referral to support services.