School of Psychology, Faculty of Health, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC, Australia.
Cancer Council Victoria, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Support Care Cancer. 2022 Aug;30(8):6659-6668. doi: 10.1007/s00520-022-07021-6. Epub 2022 May 3.
In response to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth was rapidly rolled out in health services across Australia including those delivering cancer care. This study aimed to understand people with cancer and carers' experiences with telehealth for cancer care during the COVID-19 pandemic and associated restrictions.
Semi-structured interviews conducted with people with cancer and carers via telephone or online video link between December 2020 and May 2021. Participants were recruited through cancer networks and social media. Interviews were transcribed and thematic analysis undertaken.
Twenty-three patients and 5 carers were interviewed. Telephone-based appointments were most common. Responses to telehealth were influenced by existing relationships with doctors, treatment/cancer stage and type of appointment. Four themes were derived: (i) benefits, (ii) quality of care concerns, (iii) involving carers, and (iv) optimising use of telehealth. Benefits included efficiency and reduced travel. Quality of care concerns identified subthemes: transactional feel to appointments; difficulties for rapport; suitability for appointment type and adequacy for monitoring. Both patients and carers noted a lack of opportunity for carers to participate in telephone-based appointments. Aligning appointment mode (i.e. telehealth or in person) with appointment purpose and ensuring telehealth was the patient's choice were seen as essential for its ongoing use.
While telehealth has benefits, its potential to reduce the quality of interactions with clinicians made it less attractive for cancer patients. Patient-centred guidelines that ensure patient choice, quality communication, and alignment with appointment purpose may help to increase telehealth's utility for people affected by cancer.
为应对 COVID-19 大流行，澳大利亚各地的卫生服务机构（包括提供癌症护理的机构）迅速推出了远程医疗。本研究旨在了解癌症患者和护理人员在 COVID-19 大流行期间及相关限制下对癌症护理远程医疗的体验。
2020 年 12 月至 2021 年 5 月期间，通过电话或在线视频链接对癌症患者和护理人员进行半结构式访谈。通过癌症网络和社交媒体招募参与者。对访谈进行转录并进行主题分析。
共对 23 名患者和 5 名护理人员进行了访谈。最常见的是基于电话的预约。对远程医疗的反应受到与医生的现有关系、治疗/癌症阶段和预约类型的影响。得出了四个主题：（一）效益；（二）护理质量担忧；（三）让护理人员参与；（四）优化远程医疗的使用。效益包括提高效率和减少旅行。护理质量担忧包括：预约时的交易感；建立融洽关系的困难；预约类型的适宜性以及监测的充分性。患者和护理人员都注意到，护理人员在基于电话的预约中缺乏参与机会。将预约模式（即远程医疗或亲自就诊）与预约目的相匹配，并确保远程医疗是患者的选择，被视为其持续使用的关键。
虽然远程医疗具有效益，但它降低了与临床医生互动质量的潜力，使其对癌症患者的吸引力降低。以患者为中心的指南可以确保患者选择、高质量的沟通，并与预约目的保持一致，这可能有助于提高远程医疗对癌症患者的实用性。
