About the Symptom Management Insights Report

The Symptom Management Insights Report provides Regional Cancer Programs (RCPs) with hospital-level results from their submitted Your Symptoms Matter-General Symptoms (YSM-GS) and Your Symptoms Matter-General Symptoms+ (YSM-GS+) assessments, along with a summary of the actions taken based on each symptom and symptom severity. Provincial and site level results from this report offer insights into symptom management practices solely for the purpose of quality improvement rather than performance management.

Intended Audience

Regional Vice Presidents
Regional Directors
Symptom Management Leads at participating facilities
Staff who support symptom management at participating facilities

Content

The YSM-GS and YSM-GS+ assessments are modified versions of the validated Edmonton Symptom Assessment System-revised (ESAS-r) and ESAS-r+ tools. YSM-GS ask patients to score the severity of nine core cancer symptoms (anxiety, depression, drowsiness, lack of appetite, nausea, pain, shortness of breath, tiredness, and lack of wellbeing), with YSM-GS+ adding constipation, diarrhea, and sleep (both assessments will herein be referred to as "YSM” when discussed together). These assessments enable earlier detection and management of symptoms, strengthening patient-clinician engagement to guide care.

The Symptom Management Insights Report gives RCPs information on patients who submit YSM assessments at their hospitals and tracks key actions taken after each assessment. Metric results are broken down by symptoms and symptom severity so sites can compare clinician responses for higher symptom burden and lower symptom burden cases. Actions taken in response to YSM screens are captured by reporting:

if patients visit an emergency department within 7 or 14 days of screening
if patients access psychosocial oncology care (mental health provider or dietitian) within 30 days
if patients feel their symptoms are supported via the Your Voice Matters patient experience survey

Care Partner Acknowledgement

This report acknowledges the invaluable role of care partners in supporting and managing patients’ symptoms. While their impact could not be quantified in the development of this report, they meaningfully contribute to the data we rely on. We recognize that care partners are integral to supporting patients throughout their cancer journey and specifically relating to this report: getting to and from appointments with their primary and supportive oncology care teams, completing their YSM assessments, and visits to emergency department.

Methodology

Please refer to the Report Methods for details on this dashboard’s methodology.

User Notes

Please refer to the User Notes document for an overview of the report functions.

Allowed Uses

The data, measures, and metrics shared in this report are meant for health system planning and should only be accessed by individuals who have received approval to access the HSI Platform: i.e., those who have an ONE ID account (external partners) or have obtained Domain Sponsor approval (internal OH staff). Permission should be obtained from the Symptom Management Program (OH-CCO_SymptomManagement@ontariohealth.ca) before the report metrics and data are shared publicly.

Disclaimers

Data in the Symptom Management Insights Report has been prepared to support situational awareness and system planning and should be disseminated only to those individuals who require it. Please do not use this information, either alone or with other information to identify an individual. This includes attempting to decrypt information that is encrypted, attempting to identify an individual based on encrypted information, and attempting to identify an individual based on prior knowledge.
Parts of this material are based on data and information compiled and provided by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI). However, the analyses, conclusions, opinion statements expressed in this report are those of the author, and not necessarily those of CIHI.

Contacts

Questions about the report can be sent to Symptom Management General inbox at OH-CCO_SymptomManagement@ontariohealth.ca

For all other inquiries (i.e., ONE ID, access) please see Support and Contacts