Independent radiotherapy institute Maastro is committed to giving patients with cancer a better perspective for a valuable life through high-quality care, research and education. That means: the greatest chance of cure and as few side effects as possible. To achieve this, the valuable use of the latest science and technology is very important to Maastro.

"By asking patients, usually up to years after radiotherapy, how they are doing, we obtain an ever better picture of (late) side effects of treatment. With ConsultAssistent, we understand each other and learn from each patient."

Knowing what is really going on

Maastro launched ConsultAssistent this month to query PROM questionnaires for 5 of 12 tumor areas (gynecology, mammary, pulmonary, neurology and lymphoma).

Why are PROMs important for Maastro? Project Manager Iverna Nijsten: "Maastro believes it is important to have insight into how patients experience side effects. By asking the patients themselves, Maastro gets a better idea of how they feel. And what is important to him or her. Then the practitioners can take this into account as well as possible."

The insights from the smart question modules - which ask only the questions that are really needed - are used immediately prior to the start of radiation treatment. And then to follow the patient over several years. If the patient reports that something is bothering him or her a lot, this is passed on to the practitioner within Maastro. The latter can then contact the patient if necessary to discuss the symptoms. And the data collected from groups of patients is available to Maastro to improve care for all patients.

Seeing and understanding PROMs at a glance

Iverna: "For Maastro, using ConsultAssistent means saying goodbye to paper questionnaires, which involved a lot of handling and time. With ConsultAssistent, it has been possible to completely digitize the laborious flow. For example, every returned questionnaire had to be registered manually and screened for high scores. Now ConsultAssistent provides a report, equipped with the main points of interest and graphs on the progression over time. This gives us the time and insights to move faster to the patient when needed."

Also for patients

"There is also now the opportunity for patients to look back at the course of their health after treatment and how they rate life over time. If, like many patients, you participate in completing the PROMs for several years, it's very nice to see the results of that as well."

Available to all

"All the insights and ease of work, of course, we want to benefit all patients and physicians as much as possible. So after this launch with the first 5 tumor areas, the plan is to deploy ConsultAssistent by the end of this year for all of our 12 tumor types."

Want to know more?

Like Maastro, would you like to experience what PROMs with ConsultAssistent can do for you and your patients? Contact us today.