Mobile Phone Based System Opportunities to Home-based Managing of Chemotherapy Side Effects

Abstract

Objective:

Applying mobile base systems in cancer care especially in chemotherapy management have remarkable growing in recent decades. Because chemotherapy side effects have significant influences on patient’s lives, therefore it is necessary to take ways to control them. This research has studied some experiences of using mobile phone based systems to home-based monitor of chemotherapy side effects in cancer.

Methods:

In this literature review study, search was conducted with keywords like cancer, chemotherapy, mobile phone, information technology, side effects and self managing, in Science Direct, Google Scholar and Pub Med databases since 2005.

Results:

Today, because of the growing trend of the cancer, we need methods and innovations such as information technology to manage and control it. Mobile phone based systems are the solutions that help to provide quick access to monitor chemotherapy side effects for cancer patients at home. Investigated studies demonstrate that using of mobile phones in chemotherapy management have positive results and led to patients and clinicians satisfactions.

Conclusion:

This study shows that the mobile phone system for home-based monitoring chemotherapy side effects works well. In result, knowledge of cancer self-management and the rate of patient’s effective participation in care process improved.

1. INTRODUCTION

In recent decades, using of mobile phones in chemotherapy has been receiving much attention by clinicians (1-3). By using information technology it is possible to connect health care centers and patients in remote areas and with lowest training needs for users and personnel (4). Mobile technology is rapidly used in everyday life especially in care processes for better disease management and delivery of health interventions (5). Safe and high quality follow-up in the cancer through use of mobile phone technologies has been grown (6). Cancer is a major cause of death in the world with high health priority and has become an important issue in public health (7, 8). According to GLOBOCAN 2012 estimations, there were about 14.1 million new cancer cases, 8.2 million cancer deaths and 32.6 million people who living with cancer (within 5 years of diagnosis) in 2012 worldwide (9). Chemotherapy is one of the main stages of cancer treatment. Adverse effects of chemotherapy have negative influences on cancer patient’s quality of life (10). And control of these side effects is one of the core components of chemotherapy self-managing (11). Thus intervention by mobile phone in health can be cost-effective through increase access to health care, improve diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation and support public health programs (12, 13). Therefore, this study describes some studies that verify positive impacts of mobile phone based systems to manage chemotherapy side effects.

2. METHODOLOGY

The following article investigates existing articles on interventions using mobile technology to improve home-base management chemotherapy side effects. In this literature review study, search was conducted with keywords like cancer, chemotherapy, mobile phone, mobile health, information technology, side effects and self managing in Science Direct, Google Scholar and Pub Med databases since 2005.Non English, unavailable full texts and abstracts and studies that not defined as a journal article were excluded from this study.

Table 1.

Experiences of using mobile phone based systems to home-based monitor of chemotherapy side effects in cancer

3. FINDINGS

Application of mobile phone in health

Mobile technologies include mobile phones; personal digital assistants (PDAs); Smartphone’s (e.g., iPhone); enterprise digital assistants (EDAs); portable media players; handheld video-game consoles, handheld and ultra-portable computers such as tablet PCs, and Smart books (14).

By the end of 2014, the rate of mobile phone penetration in developing and developed countries was 90% and 121% respectively. And there were 7 billion mobile phones subscriptions globally (15). Quick data transfer for both literate and illiterate populations is the main benefit of mobile phone (16).

Mobile phone is a very popular technology and because of great capabilities including advanced computing capabilities, high resolution cameras with global positioning systems (GPS) and Internet connectivity can be very effective in the health care area (17, 18).

In recent years the use of mobile phone base systems grown in health care area for interventions such as patient’s education, disease monitoring at home, cancer screening, deliver medical test results, behavioral change, and setting visits (12, 19, 20). In the low income countries because of insufficient health infrastructures, mobile phone can be a good platform to facilitate access to health care and required knowledge for self-managing (18, 21, 22).

Mobile phone roles in self-managing of chemotherapy side effects

One of the main challenges in chemotherapy is quick detection of side effects and doing appropriate action in time-frame (23). Because side-effects early detection and related action is vital to improve patient outcomes, decrease morbidity, save costs and reduce hospital admission rates (24, 25). Also most cancer patients are dissatisfaction about long waiting time for receiving chemotherapy related services (26). Therefore, mobile phones can be very useful to solve these problems like other area of health care. The following table presents some experiences of using mobile phone based systems to home-based monitor of chemotherapy side effects in cancer. One of the mobile phone based system that used to home-based monitor of chemotherapy side effects is advanced symptom management system (ASyMS) (27). ASyMS can support the management of symptoms in patients with lung, breast and colorectal cancer receiving chemotherapy (28).

4. DISCUSSION

Although applying mobile phone in cancer is in the initial phase of growth, but studies show that it can be very useful in care process (33). In chemotherapy, mobile phones often used for managing side effects and medication administration through promptly alert healthcare professionals to focus on the patients requiring intervention (10, 34, 35). Other advantages are overcoming geographical and time barriers, saving clinicians time and reduction in errors due to miscommunication, incomplete information and human fatigue (36, 37).

Studies show that behavioral changes can prevent many diseases and decrease mortality (14). And effective symptoms management fulfill with appropriate communication among patients and providers (28).

5. CONCLUSION

Health care systems should look for appropriate means to enhance health care efficiency (38). The limited access to cancer care and continuous traveling of cancer patients between home and hospitals impose high costs and undesirable emotionally effect to patients and their families, therefore can reduce cancer patients quality of life (39). With the use of new technologies, it is possible to change the way of cancer care delivery to patients and their families. In remote areas access to preventing, diagnostic, therapeutic and palliative cancer care is very difficult and sometimes impossible (40, 41); thus using mobile phone systems can be very useful to address this problems. Increasing use of mobile platforms in the health care area, lead to decrease disparities and improve access to health care services. Using chemotherapy mobile phone based systems lead to improve patients and clinician’s communication and better home-based management of chemotherapy side effects (29, 37). Since the high quality cancer care and decreasing chemotherapy complications required continuous communication between patients and physician, using mobile phone based technologies can be great suggestion to health care policymakers.