Patient Reported Outcomes (PRO) Working Group

  • GROUP Survivorship
  • PROJECT SPAN 2022
  • DATE 21/12/2022

Patient Reported Outcomes (PRO) Working Group

The Patient Reported Outcomes (PRO) Working Group (Chaired by Prof Bogda Koczwara) continues to make excellent progress.

Working Group Activities

The PRO Working Group, led by Professor Bogda Koczwara, comprises members representing clinicians, researchers and consumers with interest and expertise in PROs in cancer.

The PRO Working Group has:

- articulated their value proposition in the MJA paper: Patient-reported outcomes and personalised cancer care

- Provided mentorship to COSA Survivorship Research Fellow Dr Carolyn Mazariego who led a Delphi study to develop priority recommendations for the implementation of PROs in clinical cancer care. This work is published in Journal of Cancer Survivorship, and Dr Mazariego has now been awarded a grant that will further extend this research, in a collaboration between PRO working group members and Canadian oncologists

- led a collaborative survey (ISOQOL-Monash-COSA) mapping PROM use in oncology clinical care across Australia and New Zealand (work in progress)

- contributed to the 2021 COSA ASM with presentations relevant to PROs and delivered a symposium at the 2022 COSA ASM: No-one left behind. Ensuring equity in PRO use in clinical care.

The Working Group is now planning to translate its work to advocate for the routine use of PROs in clinical cancer care.

In August 2018 the Survivorship Group hosted a national Think Tank focusing on patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in cancer survivorship care and follow-up. The day was attended by 32 stakeholders with expertise and interest in PROs, representing clinical, research, consumer, and policy perspectives from across Australia. Think Tank participants recommended that COSA should lead work developing recommendations about how to plan a coordinated approach to PRO monitoring in cancer care. The Survivorship Group has overseen implementation of this activity via their PRO Working Group, established in September 2019.

Some current tools and guidelines applicable to clinical cancer practice are listed here for information:

- ComPASS Comprehensive Problem and Symptom Screening

- ESAS – Edmonton Symptom Assessment System

- Supportive Care Needs Assessment Tool for Indigenous People (SCNAT-IP)

- ESMO Clinical Practice Guidelines: The role of PROs in the continuum of cancer clinical care

- Canadian national position statement on patient-reported outcomes

- CQuest PRO Outcome Measure translations and cross-cultural validations

- Implementation of Patient-Reported Outcomes in Routine Medical Care

- Cancer Care Ontario Symptom Assessment Tools

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