Jennessa Rooker, PhD, RN, OCN, of the University of South Florida and Tampa General Hospital, and colleagues conducted the study. They defined ototoxicity as “hearing loss and tinnitus” and highlighted that it impacts over 50% of survivors of cancer who have received treatment with cisplatin-based chemotherapy.
Dr. Rooker and colleagues emphasized that although ototoxicity has a significant impact on patients and that “national recommendations” call for “routine symptom monitoring,” auditory screenings “remain underutilized in oncology.”
They also explained their rationale for analyzing POC technology for administering auditory screenings, as these digital tools “offer a promising solution to enhance ototoxicity detection during chemotherapy.”
The “convergent mixed-methods study” examined “the usability of an iPad-based POC auditory screening system administered by oncology nurses.” Eligible participants for the study included “adult patients undergoing cisplatin chemotherapy treatment, and infusion nurses who were trained to use the SHOEBOX Ltd. iPad-based audiometry application.”
Dr. Rooker and colleagues gathered quantitative and qualitative data, which were “collected with the System Usability Scale (SUS)” and “semi-structured interviews with eight patients and five nurses,” respectively. They also leveraged thematic analysis to “code transcripts, with integration of results achieved through methodological triangulation.”
Among five eligible patients, the “average SUS score” was 84.5 (SD, 29.4), and among 5 eligible nurses, it was 92 (SD, 7.6), which the investigators explained indicated “high system usability.”
The results revealed that “qualitative findings supported these results, with most patients describing the hearing screen as ‘easy’ and even gave them something to do during chemotherapy.” Barriers to integration of the screening tool that were observed included “environmental noise and patient complications related to treatment.”
Dr. Rooker and colleagues also reported oncology nurses’ perceptions of the screening tool and highlighted that “nurses found the screening system easy to implement and reported increased awareness of ototoxicity symptoms during chemotherapy.”
“POC auditory screening tools may enhance ototoxicity monitoring in cancer care by supporting early symptom recognition, fostering timely clinical response, and increasing patient and nurse engagement,” investigators concluded.