National Engineering Laboratory for Internet Medical Systems and Applications, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, 1 Jianshe Road, Erqi District, Zhengzhou, 450052, Henan, China.
Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Shanghai, China.
BMC Cancer. 2024 Jul 7;24(1):808. doi: 10.1186/s12885-024-12563-5.
Telemedicine is beneficial for improving treatment efficiency and reducing medical expenses of cancer patients. This study focuses on cancer patients participating in teleconsultations through a regional telemedicine platform in China, analyzes the consultation process, and provides references for the clinical application of telemedicine.
We collected information on teleconsultations of cancer patients conducted from 2015 to 2022 through the regional telemedicine platform. Utilizing SPSS 23.0 software, we conducted descriptive analysis to summarize the distribution of patient gender, age, region, and disease types. The ordinal logistic regression analysis was adopted to analyze the factors influencing the waiting time and consultation duration for teleconsultations.
From 2015 to 2022, a total of 23,060 teleconsultations were conducted for cancer patients via regional telemedicine platform, with an average growth rate of 11.09%. The main types of consultations were for lung cancer, liver cancer, and breast cancer, accounting for 18.14%, 10.49%, and 9.46% respectively. 57.05% of teleconsultations had a waiting time of less than 24 h, while patient age, consultation expert level, and disease type were the main factors influencing the waiting time. 50.06% of teleconsultations had a duration of more than 20 min, and the inviting hospital level and the title of invited consultant were the main factors influencing the consultation duration.
In China, telemedicine has been widely employed in the clinical diagnosis and treatment of cancers, covering various types of oncological diseases. However, the waiting time for teleconsultations was generally more than 12 h, indicating the need to enhance consultation scheduling and allocate more expert resources to further optimize the efficiency of teleconsultations. Additionally, further exploration is required for remote health management of outpatients with cancers outside the hospital.
远程医疗有益于提高癌症患者的治疗效率和降低医疗费用。本研究聚焦于通过中国区域远程医疗平台参与远程会诊的癌症患者，分析其会诊过程，为远程医疗的临床应用提供参考。
我们通过区域远程医疗平台收集了 2015 年至 2022 年期间癌症患者的远程会诊信息。运用 SPSS 23.0 软件，对患者的性别、年龄、地区和疾病类型分布进行描述性分析。采用有序逻辑回归分析影响远程会诊等待时间和会诊时间的因素。
2015 年至 2022 年，通过区域远程医疗平台共为癌症患者进行了 23060 次远程会诊，年平均增长率为 11.09%。主要会诊类型为肺癌、肝癌和乳腺癌，分别占 18.14%、10.49%和 9.46%。57.05%的远程会诊等待时间小于 24 小时，而患者年龄、会诊专家级别和疾病类型是影响等待时间的主要因素。50.06%的远程会诊时间超过 20 分钟，邀请医院级别和受邀顾问职称是影响会诊时间的主要因素。
在中国，远程医疗已广泛应用于癌症的临床诊断和治疗，涵盖了各种类型的肿瘤疾病。然而，远程会诊的等待时间普遍超过 12 小时，这表明需要加强会诊安排并分配更多专家资源，以进一步提高远程会诊的效率。此外，还需要进一步探索医院外癌症门诊患者的远程健康管理。
