Imperial College School of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, UK.
Department of Medicine, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
Eur J Cancer Care (Engl). 2022 Mar;31(2):e13563. doi: 10.1111/ecc.13563. Epub 2022 Feb 12.
The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the rapid expansion of telehealth, affording opportunities to study its impact on oncology care. Our qualitative study explored physician and patient perspectives of telehealth in cancer care.
Semistructured interviews were conducted with seven physicians and eleven patients, recruited from an Australian hospital oncology department. Two authors independently coded the transcripts with emerging themes identified and refined iteratively in a thematic analysis.
Telehealth offered broadened possibilities by allowing continuity of care in the pandemic and revealing advantages of convenience in consultations. It also highlighted core elements of in-person care that were unavailable. These included the information communicated through formal and informal physical examination, the collaboration between patient and physician in shaping outcomes and building rapport and the confidence in decisions made and physician performance. While patients and physicians envisioned the continuation of telehealth postpandemic, logistical steps are necessary to address these challenges.
This study highlights the unprecedented opportunities that telehealth presents in widening access to oncology care and simultaneously reveals that it cannot always reach equivalence in quality of care. Further research is required to identify when and for whom telehealth is most acceptable as future care models are considered.
COVID-19 大流行加速了远程医疗的快速扩张，为研究其对肿瘤治疗的影响提供了机会。我们的定性研究探讨了医生和患者对癌症治疗中远程医疗的看法。
从澳大利亚一家医院的肿瘤科招募了 7 名医生和 11 名患者，对他们进行了半结构化访谈。两名作者独立对转录本进行编码，通过主题分析逐步确定和完善出现的主题。
远程医疗在大流行期间提供了更广泛的连续护理的可能性，并显示出咨询便利的优势。它还突出了无法提供的面对面护理的核心要素。这些包括通过正式和非正式的体格检查传达的信息、患者和医生在塑造结果和建立融洽关系以及对决策和医生表现的信心方面的合作。虽然患者和医生设想在大流行后继续使用远程医疗，但需要采取后勤步骤来解决这些挑战。
本研究强调了远程医疗在扩大肿瘤治疗机会方面带来的前所未有的机遇，同时也表明，它在质量方面并不总是能够达到同等水平。需要进一步研究确定何时以及对谁来说远程医疗最可接受，因为正在考虑未来的护理模式。
