A Look into the Future

Using technology to record and share patient appointment summaries

image of a video being played on an tablet

Communication with your cancer doctors is essential to successful treatment, but sometimes it's hard to remember details from your appointment. A cancer diagnosis is overwhelming and patients receive a wealth of information to sort through. Even if you take notes or bring someone else to your appointment as a second set of ears, relaying that information to other friends, family and loved ones can be challenging.

Physicians at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center decided to test a new technology to help patients review their appointments and share that information with others.

Their idea? Have physicians record 2-3 minute video summaries immediately following a patient's appointment. The video contains details such as major findings and recommendations for treatment and next steps that were discussed that day. Leading the project, called MiVideo, were physicians John C. Krauss, M.D., Vaibhav Sahai, MBBS and Lawrence An, M.D., with technical and data analysis support from Matthias Kirch at the U-M Center for Health Communication Research.

How do patients access their MiVideo? Participating patients receive an email containing a link to their visit summary video on a secure website. Patients can forward the video link to friends and families if they choose to share the information. This allows them to hear the discussion firsthand from the physician and removes the possibility of information being lost in translation or misinterpreted.

The physicians recorded and sent 58 MiVideo summaries over six months to patients seen in the multidisciplinary pancreatic cancer and colorectal cancer clinics. Over three-quarters of the patients logged into the secure site to watch their video. Fourteen patients shared their video, inviting a total of 46 others to view the information.

"When it was time for the next change in treatment, several patients asked for an updated video visit summary because the first summary was so informative," says Krauss, medical oncology director at the Multidisciplinary Colorectal Cancer Clinic.

The average overall satisfaction with MiVideo was 9 on a 1-10 scale. Patient comments included:

"Provides details which may have been forgotten or misunderstood
"A great synopsis of the current condition"
"It reviews what the doctor said at the appointment"

What’s next for MiVideo? The group is seeking viable technology options to make it available to all physicians and their patients at the U-M Rogel Cancer Center in the near future.

Read the Summer, 2015 issue of Thrive.