What are the lung cancer–related studies that you are currently working on?
We have been working on a pilot research study that uses technology to facilitate effective communication between patients and healthcare providers about lung cancer screening. Funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, this study helps patients and providers talk about lung cancer screening through the use of electronic medical records and educational text messages. We created these text messages about lung cancer screening using a co-production method, meaning that they were created in collaboration with patient participants. We are also planning on starting another two recently funded projects, one of which focuses on communication between patients and healthcare providers about lung cancer screening results. This project will explore how best to communicate the results of lung cancer screening, using a video-based communication assessment, which is a tool that allows us to assess communication between patients and providers. The other project is a pilot study that uses health informatics to improve adherence to follow-up screening of lung cancer, where we will again use a co-production method.
What have you learned so far from your research study?
Although my current project is still a pilot study to evaluate feasibility, we learned a lot about using a co-production method. Prior to this study, we were not sure whether we could co-produce text messages about lung cancer screening with patient participants, since creation of these text messages requires understanding among patients about lung cancer screening. However, we found that participants provided many great suggestions based on their own or their family’s experiences, and we obtained more information than we expected to. Even during the surge of the COVID-19 pandemic, patients agreed to receive text messages that we created together and provided us with valuable feedback. We are hoping that text messages could serve as another intervention to improve patients’ awareness about screening for lung cancer and to promote conversations between patients and providers about lung cancer screening.
What do you see as the most promising technology/approach in cancer detection, treatment, or prevention right now?
I think that health informatics could help patients and providers implement the best evidence-based practices for cancer prevention, detection, and treatment. We need to do more studies about health informatics in a real-world setting, not only in research settings. If more data were available to support health informatics interventions, such as remote rehabilitation through telehealth, we could have used these types of interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Where do you see the future of cancer research going?
With precision medicine and health informatics, I think we will be able to provide more personalized care. Health informatics also has the potential to provide better care to more people within our limited resources. I do not think that health informatics can replace people such as clinical providers or caregivers. However, health informatics could help to reduce some of their workload and provide more support.
Why do you feel it is important for patients with cancer to take part in medical research?
I think that health care is something that we create together. Especially for the type of research that I am doing, we really need patients’ input to develop effective patient-centered interventions.
About Mayuko Ito Fukunaga
Mayuko Ito Fukunaga, MD, is an assistant professor in the Departments of Medicine and Population and Quantitative Health Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and is affiliated with UMass Memorial Health. Dr. Ito Fukunaga earned an MD from Keio University and completed residency training at Beth Israel Medical Center. She is board certified in critical care medicine, internal medicine, and pulmonary disease.
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