Self-management of disease is known to have the potential to improve health outcomes and the patient experience. This role of patient as an active, rather than passive, recipient of care contributes to a UK policy drive towards improved patient participation in clinical decision making. It is widely acknowledged that the use of chemotherapy in cancer results in side effects that have a negative impact on patients' quality of life.

Patient-reported side effects are also known to be more accurate reflections of the severity of side effects than clinician-elicited responses. Real-time symptom monitoring using a mobile phone and other devices, e.g. a ‘Health Buddy’, are potentially advantageous for patients receiving chemotherapy. Two of our recent studies demonstrating high quality holistic patient care and the ability to optimise the individual dose of oral chemotherapy safely using real-time monitoring of parameters entered by the patient, will be presented.

Annie Young

Annie was appointed Professor of Nursing at WMS in 2010. Annie’s oncology nursing career started as a chemotherapy nurse, followed by research, both in clinical trials and qualitative studies. She gained a UK Medical Research Council Clinical Fellowship to lead a trial of venous thromboembolism in cancer patients, now her key research and clinical practice area.

Annie works clinically in University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire and strives to increase the research capacity of nurses and allied healthcare professionals (AHPs). Her research portfolio presents a rational basis for nursing-related interventions through mixed methodology research, encompassing: new technologies for monitoring and managing side effects of cancer therapies; survivorship and rehabilitation for cancer patients; symptomatic care including chemotherapy-induced alopecia and nausea and vomiting. Annie visits low resource countries in Africa to support their oncology nursing and patient care programmes and to partner in research.