Symptoms and General Pathology

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Assessment of Cancer patients' knowledge of their medications in an outpatient acute care setting

Patient Medication Knowledge Tool - Questionnaire entailing the medications the patient is currently taking.

PMKT Questionnaire

Carmen Escalante, MD

The goal of the study is to learn about patients' knowledge of their medications in an outpatient acute care setting (such as the M. D. Anderson Emergency Center) and to learn about any clinical factors that affect patients' knowledge of their medications.

You will be asked to list your prescription medicines, over-the-counter medicines, herbal preparations and vitamins, minerals and supplements that you take. Information about you (such as age or gender), the status of the disease (such as cancer diagnosis and extent of disease), and your Emergency Center visit (such as your reason for visit and discharge diagnosis) will be collected from your medical record.

To find out if your answers on the questionnaire are correct regarding the medications you take, researchers will check the pharmacy database for medications you fill at the M. D. Anderson pharmacy, your medical record, and contact any outside pharmacy that you may use to fill your medicines, with your permission. In order for outside pharmacies to release the requested medication information, you will need to sign an Authorization for Disclosure of Health Information from Pharmacy Records.

Your information will be kept confidential. All patient data will be reported and published as a group. You will not be individually identified. Data will be stored with patient codes so that your identity will be protected. In addition, the study database will be password protected.

You may be contacted in the future for more information; however, you are not obligated to answer any future questions just because you agreed to participate in this study.

This is an investigational study. About 350 patients will take part in this study. All will be enrolled at M. D. Anderson.

Cancer Patients' Medication Knowledge in the Emergency Center

M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

Neoplasms

Blood and Lymph Conditions

Syndrome

Fatigue

Hematologic Neoplasms

Hematologic Diseases

2 surveys, taking about 10-15 minutes each, during Emergency Center visit

Surveys

Xin Shelley Wang, MD

1. To describe fatigue severity and its related symptom clusters in cancer patients who are seeking emergency care for fever, pain, shortness of breath, or cancer therapy-related gastrointestinal toxicities.
2. To describe inflammatory cytokine profiles in cancer patients who are seeking emergency care for fever, pain, shortness of breath, or cancer therapy-related gastrointestinal toxicities.
3. To determine the type of cytokines that are associated with fatigue severity in cancer patients, with or without cancer treatment, in the early phase of infection, as well as in patients with pain, shortness of breath, or cancer therapy-related gastrointestinal toxicities.

One of the ways to learn about the symptoms of cancer and the effect of cancer treatment is by rating how severe symptoms are and how they interfere with daily activity. Researchers can also compare these ratings to the levels of certain proteins called cytokines that are found in the blood while the patient is experiencing symptoms.

If you agree to take part in this study, you will be asked to complete 2 surveys during your Emergency Center visit. One survey will measure physical and mental symptoms (such as sadness or distress). The other survey will ask you for personal "demographic" information (such as your age and marital status). Completing the questionnaires will take about 10-15 minutes. During the Emergency Center visit, about 1 tablespoon of blood will be drawn for cytokine testing.

Research staff will also collect other information from your medical record, clinical information, and lab results. This information may include cancer diagnosis, cancer treatment, performance status (your ability to perform daily activities), disease status, and any medications you are taking at that time.

This is an investigational study. About 520 patients will participate in this study. All will be enrolled at M. D. Anderson.

About 1 tablespoon of blood drawn for cytokine testing.

Fatigue in Emergency Center Patients

Fatigue and Its Symptom Cluster Related to Inflammatory Cytokine Profiles in Cancer Patients Seeking Emergency Care

Descriptive factor and cluster analysis using MD Anderson Symptom Index (MDASI) 13 core symptom items to form 1) treatment-related factor (nausea and vomiting) and 2) general severity factor (the remaining 11 core symptom items). Patients rate intensity and interference of symptoms on 0-10 numeric scales from "not present" to "as bad as you can imagine." Patients also rate the amount of interference with daily activities caused by symptoms on 0-10 numeric scales from "did not interfere" to "interfered completely."

Study title	NCT ID	Conditions	Interventions	Eligibility	Organization	Link
Cancer Patients' Medication Knowledge in the Emergency Center	NCT00385476	Advanced Cancer	PMKT Questionna...	16 Years -	M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Fatigue in Emergency Center Patients	NCT00504985	Advanced Cancer Hematologic Mal... Fatigue	Surveys	18 Years -	M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

Spots Global Cancer Trial Database for emergency center