Continuous Care Model Improves Outcomes in Chemotherapy-Treated Advanced CRC

A continuous care model was associated with improvements in multiple outcomes for patients with advanced colorectal cancer treated with chemotherapy, compared with traditional follow-up care. These study results were reported in the journal Medicine.

This retrospective analysis evaluated outcomes for patients with advanced colorectal cancer treated with chemotherapy, with patients assigned to a control group and an observation group. The control group received routine discharge guidance, health education, and blood tests, in addition to a follow-up telephone call 1 week after discharge.

Patients in the observation group received continuous care. This included a complete personal file that comprised a comprehensive nursing evaluation, a discharge plan, and case management with follow-up phone calls as needed. Patients in this group were encouraged to join the WeChat group and interact with other patients on the app. Regular telephone follow-up calls started on the third day after discharge.

Numerous outcomes were evaluated for differences between the 2 groups. These included self-care ability, treatment compliance, anxiety and depression, hope, toxicity and side effects, cancer-related fatigue, and self-efficacy and communication ability among nursing staff.

The control group included 308 patients, with a mean age of 59.83 years. The observation group included 332 patients, with a mean age of 59.13 years. Demographic characteristics were considered not significantly different between groups.

Compared with the control group, patients in the observation group showed significantly improved health knowledge (P <.001), self-care skills (P <.001), self-concept (P <.001), self-care responsibility (P =.001), and treatment compliance (P <.001).

Levels of self-rated anxiety (P <.001) and depression (P <.001) were also significantly lower for the observation group than for the control group. The level of hope was also rated as significantly higher for the observation group than for the control group (P <.001).

Incidence of toxic side effects was reportedly lower for the observation group than for the control group (P <.001). The observation group also showed significantly lower scores for cancer-related fatigue than did the control group (P <.001).

The continuous care model had statistically significant improvements in nurses’ communication ability for the observation group, compared with the control group (P <.001). General self-efficacy for nursing staff also was higher in the observation group (P <.001).

“The application of continuous care can improve [patients’] self-care ability and treatment compliance, effectively reduce anxiety and depression in patients with advanced colorectal cancer undergoing chemotherapy, and improve nurses’ communication skills and patients hope level,” the investigators wrote in their report. They concluded that the approach is worth promoting in the clinical setting.

Reference

Wang L, Huang Q, Ju C, Pan X. The effect of continuous care on the recovery of patients with advanced colorectal cancer undergoing chemotherapy. Medicine (Baltimore). 2023;102(42):e35370. doi:10.1097/MD.0000000000035370