Chemo at Home: High Rate of Satisfaction, Low Rate of Discontinuation

Receiving chemotherapy infusions at home appears to be safe, and patients reported a high rate of satisfaction, according to research presented at the NCCN 2022 Annual Conference. 

Most patients in the study completed at-home chemotherapy as planned, and none of them stopped treatment because of adverse drug reactions.

In a survey, most patients said they understood their medication instructions, were informed about potential side effects, and were satisfied with at-home chemotherapy.

Researchers assessed the safety of home chemotherapy infusions in 153 patients using 3 parameters — treatment completion, adverse drug reactions, and unplanned hospitalizations.

Overall, 90% of patients completed treatment per physician orders. No one stopped treatment because of adverse drug reactions, 4% of patients had an unplanned hospitalization, and 4% died. 

The researchers also surveyed 328 at-home chemotherapy recipients using a 12-question survey developed by the National Home Infusion Association. The survey responses were submitted between 2019 and 2021.

The survey used a Likert scale (“strongly agree” to “strongly disagree”), and the following answers are the highest rated option (“strongly agree”).

All patients said the home infusion pump was clean when delivered, and 99% said it worked properly. Most patients said they knew who to call for help (98%), responses to after-hours calls met their needs (86%), and the nurse or pharmacist explained the possible side effects of treatment (91%). 

Nearly all patients said they understood the instructions on how to wash their hands (98%), give home infusion medications (97%), care for the IV catheter (97%), store their medications (96%), and use the home infusion pump (98%).

Most patients said they were satisfied with the overall quality of at-home infusion services. The percentage was 73% using the “strongly agree” metric but increased to 97% when the “agree” answer was included as well. 

Reference

Simpson MC, Haines DJ. Patient satisfaction and reason for discontinuation of home infusion for cancer patients. Presented at NCCN 2022 Annual Conference; March 31 – April 2, 2022. Abstract HSR22-168. 

This article originally appeared on Cancer Therapy Advisor