Four undergraduates continue to pursue collaborative research project two years after an inspiring course
A few days after learning that Duke students would not be returning to campus after spring break, due to the university’s response to COVID-19, Sahil Sandhu ’20 spied a bright spot in his inbox. He and three fellow students were invited to present their work at the 2020 AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting.
“Perspectives on Integrating Electronic Patient-Reported Outcomes into Clinical Oncology Workflows: A Qualitative Study” was accepted for a poster presentation. The conference is currently scheduled for June.
The student researchers—Sandhu, Zoe King ’21, Michelle Wong ’20 and Sean Bissell ’19—had been motivated to keep working on a collaborative project they began in a Spring 2018 course, continuing through independent studies.
The research study involved in-person interviews with 16 oncologists representing diverse subspecialties and cancer types. “Understanding oncologists’ perspectives is essential in informing both practice-level efforts to integrate ePRO [electronic patient-reported outcomes] into clinical workflows and policy-level decisions to include ePROs in alternative payment models for cancer care,” the students wrote in their abstract.
All study participants identified potential benefits from incorporating ePROs into patient care, as well as several barriers to implementation and uptake. The findings can guide strategies to improve provider buy-in, select ePRO tools and optimize workflow integration, data visualization and documentation features.
“Bass Connections.” Getting from Health Innovation to Actual Implementation | Duke Bass Connections, March 31, 2020. https://bassconnections.duke.edu/about/news/getting-health-innovation-actual-implementation.