PURPOSE: The median overall survival (OS) for metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (mPDAC) is < 1 year. Factors that contribute to quality of life during treatment are critical to quantify. One factor-time spent obtaining clinical services-is understudied. We quantified total outpatient time among patients with mPDAC receiving palliative systemic chemotherapy. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective analysis using four patient-level time measures calculated from the medical record of patients with mPDAC receiving 5-fluorouracil infusion, leucovorin, oxaliplatin, and irinotecan; gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel; or gemcitabine within the University of Pennsylvania Health System between January 1, 2011 and January 15, 2019. These included the total number of health care encounter days (any day with at least one visit) and total visit time. Total visit time represented the time spent receiving care (care time) plus time spent commuting and waiting for care (noncare time). We performed descriptive statistics on these outpatient time metrics and compared the number of encounter days to OS. RESULTS: A total of 362 patients were identified (median age, 65 years; 52% male; 78% white; 62% received gemcitabine plus nab-paclitaxel). Median OS was 230.5 days (7.6 months), with 79% of patients deceased at the end of follow-up. On average, patients had 22 health care encounter days, accounting for 10% of their total days survived. Median visit time was 4.6 hours, of which 2.5 hours was spent commuting or waiting for care. CONCLUSION: On average, patients receiving palliative chemotherapy for mPDAC spend 10% of survival time on outpatient health care. More than half of this time is spent commuting and waiting for care. These findings provide an important snapshot of the patient experience during ambulatory care, and efforts to enhance efficiency of care delivery may be warranted.
PURPOSE: The median overall survival (OS) for metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (mPDAC) is < 1 year. Factors that contribute to quality of life during treatment are critical to quantify. One factor-time spent obtaining clinical services-is understudied. We quantified total outpatient time among patients with mPDAC receiving palliative systemic chemotherapy. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective analysis using four patient-level time measures calculated from the medical record of patients with mPDAC receiving 5-fluorouracil infusion, leucovorin, oxaliplatin, and irinotecan; gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel; or gemcitabine within the University of Pennsylvania Health System between January 1, 2011 and January 15, 2019. These included the total number of health care encounter days (any day with at least one visit) and total visit time. Total visit time represented the time spent receiving care (care time) plus time spent commuting and waiting for care (noncare time). We performed descriptive statistics on these outpatient time metrics and compared the number of encounter days to OS. RESULTS: A total of 362 patients were identified (median age, 65 years; 52% male; 78% white; 62% received gemcitabine plus nab-paclitaxel). Median OS was 230.5 days (7.6 months), with 79% of patients deceased at the end of follow-up. On average, patients had 22 health care encounter days, accounting for 10% of their total days survived. Median visit time was 4.6 hours, of which 2.5 hours was spent commuting or waiting for care. CONCLUSION: On average, patients receiving palliative chemotherapy for mPDAC spend 10% of survival time on outpatient health care. More than half of this time is spent commuting and waiting for care. These findings provide an important snapshot of the patient experience during ambulatory care, and efforts to enhance efficiency of care delivery may be warranted.
Authors: Lowell E Schnipper; Nancy E Davidson; Dana S Wollins; Douglas W Blayney; Adam P Dicker; Patricia A Ganz; J Russell Hoverman; Robert Langdon; Gary H Lyman; Neal J Meropol; Therese Mulvey; Lee Newcomer; Jeffrey Peppercorn; Blase Polite; Derek Raghavan; Gregory Rossi; Leonard Saltz; Deborah Schrag; Thomas J Smith; Peter P Yu; Clifford A Hudis; Julie M Vose; Richard L Schilsky Journal: J Clin Oncol Date: 2016-05-31 Impact factor: 44.544
Authors: Carolyn J Presley; Pamela R Soulos; Mary Tinetti; Victor M Montori; James B Yu; Cary P Gross Journal: J Oncol Pract Date: 2016-12-20 Impact factor: 3.840
Authors: Joseph Abi Jaoude; Connor P Thunshelle; Ramez Kouzy; Nicholas D Nguyen; Daniel Lin; Laura Prakash; Isabela M Bumanlag; Sonal S Noticewala; Joshua S Niedzielski; Sam Beddar; Ethan B Ludmir; Emma B Holliday; Prajnan Das; Bruce D Minsky; Joseph M Herman; Matthew Katz; Albert C Koong; Eugene J Koay; Cullen M Taniguchi Journal: Adv Radiat Oncol Date: 2021-07-29
Authors: Gabrielle B Rocque; Courtney P Williams; Stacey A Ingram; Andres Azuero; Stephen T Mennemeyer; Jennifer Young Pierce; Ryan D Nipp; Katherine E Reeder-Hayes; Kelly M Kenzik Journal: Cancer Med Date: 2020-09-21 Impact factor: 4.452
Authors: Jakob N Kather; Eva C Winkler; Thomas Walle; Erkin Erdal; Leon Mühlsteffen; Hans Martin Singh; Editha Gnutzmann; Barbara Grün; Helene Hofmann; Alexandra Ivanova; Bruno Christian Köhler; Felix Korell; Athanasios Mavratzas; Andreas Mock; Constantin Pixberg; David Schult; Helen Starke; Niels Steinebrunner; Lena Woydack; Andreas Schneeweiss; Mareike Dietrich; Dirk Jäger; Johannes Krisam Journal: ESMO Open Date: 2020-11