PDAs Helping Breast Cancer Patients

Thanks to a new, first-of-its-kind pilot study from the researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, breast cancer patients are using personal digital assistants, PDAs to record their level of pain, fatigue and depression. They will also be able to watch patient communication videos.

The purpose of the study is to teach the patient how to communicate with their doctors during chemotherapy more effectively. It is known that patients have trouble talking to doctors about these issues and the reverse may also be true, with doctors having the same communication problems.

There are 25 patients in the study and before they start chemotherapy, they are given a PDA and instructions on how to use it to complete weekly assessment that rate their pain fatigue and depression while they are getting their treatments. They also encourage them to watch short 8 to 12 minute videos the day before each office visit. There is also a control group of 25 who get the usual care without using a PDA.

They hope that this will encourage more two-way discussion about these symptoms, because if they are not treated, they can worsen and become a real problem.

The doctors will receive printouts of the patients' symptoms before the office visit. The videos are tailored to the particular patient's race and symptoms, for instance, black patients will get to view videos featuring a black physician and black patients, while white patients watch white physician and white patients.

The video that the patient gets to see is related to how they rated themselves the previous week. It will teach them how to explain the symptoms that they described experiencing during the chemotherapy to the doctor at the next office visit.
It is extremely important for the patient to record the data weekly, as they are experiencing it.

If a patient is having significant problems, the PDA will alert the patient to contact their physician.