Patient and Physician Assessments of Clinical Status: A Mixed-Methods Study of Interstitial Lung Disease

Background The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic necessitated novel health-care delivery for patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD), including reduced in-person appointments and physiologic testing to minimize transmission. Clinicians often have been required to rely on patients' subjective assessments of their clinical status during phone follow-up appointments. It is unknown how accurate a patient's self-assessment is compared with that of their physician during an in-person evaluation. Research Question Are patients' self-assessments of their clinical status in agreement with their physicians' assessments, and are telemedicine vs in-person visits acceptable? Study Design and Methods Patients were enrolled prospectively from the University of Calgary ILD clinic. Participants were asked by phone before the in-person appointment and after the appointment to rate their clinical status on a five-point Likert scale. Physicians then rated the patient's clinical status after the appointment on a similar five-point Likert scale, masked to patient responses. Patients and physicians were asked if an in-person appointment was necessary or if telemedicine would have sufficed. Clinical variables associated with physician assessments were assessed. Results Fifty patients with mean age of 67 ± 11.8 years participated. Mean time since last follow-up was 5.0 ± 3.0 months. No correlation was found between the preclinical patient self-assessment and postclinical physician assessment (P = .18;κ = 0.28). Correlation of postclinical assessment was statistically significant (P < .001), with moderate agreement (κ = 0.49). Physicians thought telephone visits were acceptable for 58% of appointments, whereas only 12% of patients preferred telephone visits. Physician's assessment of clinical status seemed to be driven by change in diffusion capacity of the lungs for carbon monoxide (P = .039). Interpretation Telemedicine may improve access to care for patients during pandemic management, in rural communities, and for those with impaired mobility. Despite these benefits, our data support that patients and physicians may not agree on determination of clinical status and that patients generally prefer in-person patient-physician interactions.

Home monitoring in interstitial lung diseases.

The widespread use of smartphones and the internet has enabled self-monitoring and more hybrid-care models. The COVID-19 pandemic has further accelerated remote monitoring, including in the heterogenous and often vulnerable group of patients with interstitial lung diseases (ILDs). Home monitoring in ILD has the potential to improve access to specialist care, reduce the burden on health-care systems, improve quality of life for patients, identify acute and chronic disease worsening, guide treatment decisions, and simplify clinical trials. Home spirometry has been used in ILD for several years and studies with other devices (such as pulse oximeters, activity trackers, and cough monitors) have emerged. At the same time, challenges have surfaced, including technical, analytical, and implementational issues. In this Series paper, we provide an overview of experiences with home monitoring in ILD, address the challenges and limitations for both care and research, and provide future perspectives. VIDEO ABSTRACT.

Pregnancy Considerations for Patients With Interstitial Lung Disease.

Advances in our understanding of interstitial lung disease (ILD) pathophysiology and natural history have led to the development of guidelines for the diagnosis and management of several of these complex diseases. The demographics of patients with ILD indicate the disease is not restricted to older adults. Connective tissue disease-associated ILD, familial pulmonary fibrosis, and post-COVID-19 fibrosis may affect women of child-bearing age. Recent trials have excluded pregnant women, thereby limiting the applicability of contemporary therapeutic advances to these patients. This review synthesizes the current knowledge of pregnancy outcomes in those with ILD, with a focus on connective tissue disease-associated ILD, and potential treatment implications for patients with ILD who are pregnant or considering pregnancy. Pregnancy considerations for patients with ILD include the need for preconception counseling and planning to ensure disease stability, medication and vaccination optimization, and multidisciplinary involvement of a patient's pulmonologist, obstetrician, and, when indicated, rheumatologist and genetic counselor. Evidence to date suggests that women with ILD can have safe and healthy pregnancies but that complications may occur in those with severe ILD.

Worldwide experiences and opinions of healthcare providers on eHealth for patients with interstitial lung diseases in the COVID-19 era.

The #COVID19 pandemic has led to an increase in the use of eHealth for patients with interstitial lung disease. Healthcare providers worldwide are positive towards further implementation of eHealth for research and clinical practice. https://bit.ly/3h2545M.

Description of a Multi-faceted COVID-19 Pandemic Physician Workforce Plan at a Multi-site Academic Health System.

BACKGROUND: The evolving COVID-19 pandemic has and continues to present a threat to health system capacity. Rapidly expanding an existing acute care physician workforce is critical to pandemic response planning in large urban academic health systems. INTERVENTION: The Medical Emergency-Pandemic Operations Command (MEOC)-a multi-specialty team of physicians, operational leaders, and support staff within an academic Department of Medicine in Calgary, Canada-partnered with its provincial health system to rapidly develop a comprehensive, scalable pandemic physician workforce plan for non-ventilated inpatients with COVID-19 across multiple hospitals. The MEOC Pandemic Plan comprised seven components, each with unique structure and processes. METHODS: In this manuscript, we describe MEOC's Pandemic Plan that was designed and implemented from March to May 2020 and re-escalated in October 2020. We report on the plan's structure and process, early implementation outcomes, and unforeseen challenges. Data sources included MEOC documents, health system, public health, and physician engagement implementation data. KEY RESULTS: From March 5 to October 26, 2020, 427 patients were admitted to COVID-19 units in Calgary hospitals. In the initial implementation period (March-May 2020), MEOC communications reached over 2500 physicians, leading to 1446 physicians volunteering to provide care on COVID-19 units. Of these, 234 physicians signed up for hospital shifts, and 227 physicians received in-person personal protective equipment simulation training. Ninety-three physicians were deployed on COVID-19 units at four large acute care hospitals. The resurgence of cases in September 2020 has prompted re-escalation including re-activation of COVID-19 units. CONCLUSIONS: MEOC leveraged an academic health system partnership to rapidly design, implement, and refine a comprehensive, scalable COVID-19 acute care physician workforce plan whose components are readily applicable across jurisdictions or healthcare crises. This description may guide other institutions responding to COVID-19 and future health emergencies.

Practical Considerations for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Fibrotic Interstitial Lung Disease During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, has affected virtually all aspects of patient care. Health-care systems around the world are trying simultaneously to treat patients with COVID-19, prepare for its long-term impacts, and treat patients with other acute and chronic diseases. There are multiple ways that the COVID-19 pandemic will directly affect patients with fibrotic interstitial lung disease (ILD), particularly given their common risk factors for poor outcomes. Major issues for patients with ILD will include restricted access to key components of the diagnostic process, new uncertainties in the use of common ILD pharmacotherapies, limited ability to monitor both disease severity and the presence of medication adverse effects, and significantly curtailed research activities. The purpose of this review is to summarize how COVID-19 has impacted key components of the diagnosis and management of fibrotic ILD as well as to provide strategies to mitigate these challenges. We further review major obstacles for researchers and identify priority areas for future ILD research related to COVID-19. Our goals are to provide practical considerations to support the care of patients with ILD during the COVID-19 pandemic and to provide a road map for clinicians caring for these patients during future infectious disease outbreaks.