Text Message Intervention Can Help Reduce Time Burden of Cancer Care

A study led by PC3I Faculty Ronac Mamtani, MD, MSCE and former PC3I Fellow Erin Bange, MSCE found that implementing a text message-based symptom reporting electronic triage (e-triage) saved patients with cancer 30 minutes in wait time and 66 minutes in total care time. Time toxicity, or the total time patients spend commuting to, waiting for, and receiving cancer treatment, impacts both patients and their caregivers by taking away time spent with loved ones and increasing care costs.

Findings published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) Catalyst Innovations in Care Delivery demonstrate the effectiveness of a text message e-triage to safely assess treatment readiness and mitigate the impact of time burden. To be adopted into clinical practice, further work is needed in order to improve the integration of the e-triage system into routine clinical workflows and validate the results in a larger multi-institution cohort. For more information, visit the Text-based Intervention to Minimize the Time Burden of Routine Cancer Care (TIME) project page.