Table 4 Thematic analysis of end-of-study provider interviews (n = 9)
Main themes | Sub-categories | Specific comments |
|---|---|---|
 What worked well | a) Patients liked receiving calls | • Overall the intervention was well received by patients who appreciated the personal touch the intervention added to their care. • Reassurance provided to patients regarding their treatment experience reduced anxiety. • Patients liked consistent individual performing the calls. |
b) Providers liked delivering the intervention | • Providers enjoyed their involvement. • Orientation provided to staff prior to their involvement | |
c) Importance of planning | • Screening breast clinic patient lists to identify patients eligible for the study. • Determining a scheduled time to make the intervention calls to prevent missed calls. • The use of a thorough and practical tool to provide structure to the telephone calls. | |
 What did not work | a) Fitting the intervention into existing work flow | • Providers struggled to fill calls into their existing work schedule. • Burden of large amounts of data collection and length of form to be completed during calls. • Communication between team members and incorporation of NCI PRO-CTCAE into clinic appointments. • Inconsistent staff performing intervention calls. • Patients’ confusion regarding who to call if issues arose between calls. |
b) Ensuring appropriate experience | • Clinical trial staff may not have sufficient symptom management experience compared with nurses working in the chemotherapy clinic. | |
 Recommendations for improvement | a) Calls | • Develop a tracking tool for the telephone calls. • Timing of calls: first call for cycle one should be early. After first cycle, one call at days 5–8 may be sufficient. • Limit number of providers making follow-up calls. • Track and manage other common symptoms during calls (e.g., insomnia, anxiety, and depression). |
b) Staff training | • Further training on symptom management and organization of workload. | |
c) Communication within circle of care | • Develop process to ensure oncologists and staff are aware of symptom information reported on NCI PRO-CTCAE. • Develop documentation process to ensure clear communication between team members. | |
d) Other | • Reduce amount of data collection. • Improve patient symptom management guide—make it more illustrative. |