A user-friendly digital tool
As an online portal accessible on any electronic device, MyPath will radically change the way patients and healthcare providers communicate.
Using the MyPath portal, patients and their relatives can report symptoms and problems in real-time, directly sending the information to the healthcare provider. Both sides can provide, receive, and have access to essential information. Based on the patient reports and clinical data, MyPath will then generate individualised care plans for the patient including computer-based decision support.
Not only does this facilitate the handling of acute situations thanks to the rapid information exchange, but it also gives the patient a voice in decisions concerning their care or treatment. Furthermore, digital remote monitoring enables patients to receive effective follow-up at home, reducing the stressful and time-consuming travels to the hospital.
Patient-centred care pathways
The tailored treatment and care plans that MyPath creates for each individual patient are also known as patient-centred care pathways (PCCPs). To generate these PCCPs, MyPath will collect information from the patient through digital questionnaires in six core areas: pain, fatigue, nutrition, physical function, social function, and psychological distress.
We envisage a modular, dynamic approach, where these key areas can be used in different combinations to address specific needs. During curative treatment, for instance, the focus may lie on controlling physical side effects, while at the survivorship stage, coping, distress, and social aspects may be considered more important. The hierarchical and dynamic nature of the solution presents in-depth follow-up questions concerning the symptoms. This provides a comprehensive symptom assessment which guides individually tailored interventions.
Patient-reported measures
A crucial component of the PCCPs is made up of Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) and Patient-Reported Experience Measures (PREMs), considered the keystones of patient-centred care. PROMs and PREMs contain information about the patient’s symptom burden, functional level, and care preferences. While these have traditionally been registered on paper, the digitalisation of healthcare is opening up new possibilities for the electronic collection of PROMs and PREMs. However, many digital PROMs nowadays are simply a direct transfer of paper forms to a screen without taking advantage of technological advantages.
The way MyPath makes use of PROMs and PREMs, by contrast, will be adaptive and dynamic to meet the changing needs of patients. For this, the design of MyPath will build on previous work conducted by consortium members. A computer-based tool for electronic PROMs and PREMs and individualised decision support, called Eir, was previously developed within the European Palliative Care Research Centre. Features of the Eir platform will be improved and further developed for MyPath, and new features will be added.
An innovative approach to patient-centred cancer care
The comparison between MyPath and currently existing solutions below illustrates where MyPath brings innovation and how it goes beyond state-of-the-art practices.
