Skip to main content
AAPM&R Events Main banner
JFK Johnson
Icon Legend
This session is not in your schedule.
This session is in your schedule. Click again to remove it.
Presentation Icons
In-Person
In-Person
On Demand
On Demand
Live Stream
Live Stream
Invite Only
Invite Only
Ticketed
Ticketed
Coffee Break
Coffee Break
Meal
Meal
Reception
Reception
Back

General Rehabilitation

A Cross-Sectional Survey of Cancer Rehabilitation Physiatrists Across the United States Regarding Outcome Measure Collection

(Research Hub Theater) A Cross-sectional Survey of Cancer Rehabilitation Physiatrists Across the United States Regarding Outcome Measure Collection

Thursday, November 16, 2023
5:00 PM – 7:00 PM CT

    Primary Author(s)

  • Marc C. Ramos Emos, MD (he/him/his)

    Resident Physician
    State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate Health Sciences Univ PM&R Program
    Brooklyn, New York

    • Co-Author(s)

  • Judy S. Lee, BS

    Medical Student
    State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate Health Sciences University
    Brooklyn, New York

  • Sara Parke, MD

    PM&R Physician
    Mayo Clinic Arizona
    Tucson, Arizona

  • An Ngo-Huang, DO

    Associate Professor
    University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
    Houston, Texas

  • Jessica P. Engle, DO

    Assistant Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
    John Hopkins
    Washington, District of Columbia

  • Jessica T. Cheng, MD

    Assistant Professor
    City of Hope Orange County Lennar Foundation Cancer Center
    Irvine, California

Objective: To understand current practice of outcome measure collection in cancer rehabilitation physiatry practices across the United States and interest in collecting common outcome measures for a common database

Design: Descriptive cross-sectional survey collected from October 21, 2022 to November 4, 2022

Setting: Not Applicable

Participants: Members of the AAPM&R Cancer Rehabilitation Physician Consortium (CRPC)

Interventions: Not Applicable

Main Outcome Measures: Identification of common outcome measures and interest in collecting common outcome measures

Results: Twenty-four cancer rehabilitation physicians representing 22 institutions across the United States responded to the survey. Seventeen (71%) respondents were actively collecting metrics. Practice setting was primarily tertiary care hospital (n=18, 75%), outpatient (n=18, 75%), and with Epic as the electronic medical record (EMR) (n=16, 66%). The most common patient populations were breast cancer (n=19) and head and neck cancer (n=11). Regarding workflow, outcome measures were collected before (n=11, 64%) or during (n=7, 41%) the clinic visit. Common objective physical function metrics collected were grip strength (n=10), 30 second sit-to-stand (n=9), 6-minute walk test (n=5), timed up and go (n=5), and bioimpedance spectroscopy (n=5). Common patient-reported outcomes collected were Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Physical Function Short Form (n=7), PROMIS Cancer Function Brief 3D Profile (n=6), and Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale (n=6). Twenty-two (92%) respondents from 20 (91%) institutions were interested in collecting common outcome measures to contribute to a cancer rehabilitation database. Barriers to outcome measure collection were inadequate staff to obtain measures (n=14, 58%) and limited EMR resources (n=7, 29%).

Conclusions: Cancer rehabilitation physiatrists in the United States collect diverse outcome measures in varied practice settings. Interest in collecting common outcome measures for a database exists. However, consensus on evidence-based metrics and overcoming implementation barriers are crucial before database development.