Cancer patient experience of telephone clinics implemented in light of COVID-19

Abstract

Introduction Due to the pandemic of COVID-19 a number of National Health Service (NHS) Trusts in the UK adopted telephone consultations for patients who were shielding. As the pandemic continues to affect these services an evaluation was conducted to determine whether telephone consultations implemented during the pandemic should be maintained long term. The objective was to evaluate this new service and to understand patient experience. Methods This study was conducted via a telephone survey. Staff working in the Macmillan centres across the Trust called patients to survey them about their experience of telephone consultations. Data were collected 23/06/20 – 17/07/20. A mix of eight open and closed questions were asked. Data were collected on an Excel spreadsheet and patient identifiable information was anonymised. Results 55 patients accepted to participate in this study. Out of 55, 39 patients rated the phone consultation they had as either 4 or 5 out of 5. When asked if they would like to continue with phone clinics 33 said they would. The majority of consultations were conducted by doctors (43/55). Patients commented they had received great support from their healthcare professionals and they felt that phone consultations were safer in the current climate. Three of the patients felt the calls were rushed and others found it difficult to discuss pain management, sides effects and post-surgery issues. Conclusions This evaluation provides a brief snapshot of the experience cancer patients are having with phone clinics. A re-evaluation will take place once video consultations are implemented.

People with cancer and their family caregivers’ personal experience of using supportive eHealth technology: A narrative review

“…In contrast to previous reviews which focused on usability, acceptance, engagement or effectiveness (Boulley et al, 2018;Cho et al, 2021;Slev et al, 2016;Triberti et al, 2019;Xu et al, 2019), we explored the personal experience detailed in studies to date of what it was like using technology. This review emphasizes the varied experiences regarding incorporating eHealth technology into everyday life, with views ranging of it being disruptive and time-consuming (Fergus et al, 2014;MacDonald et al, 2020;Martin et al, 2021) to barrier-defying in accessing necessary care (Dalby et al, 2021;Ownsworth et al, 2020). A unique aspect of this review is its focus on the family caregivers' experience of eHealth technology, either of dyadic interventions or their benefits related to their relative with cancer's use of supportive eHealth technology.…”

“…Conversely, other studies found that technology was easily embedded in their daily routine and personal schedule (Maguire et al, 2020;Ngo et al, 2020;Hauffman et al, 2020), appreciating the option to engage at a time and pace that suited them (Song et al, 2015;Smith et al, 2020a;Drott et al, 2016) and enabled the person with cancer to plan their schedule (Mohsen et al, 2021;Crafoord et al, 2020). Participants with cancer also found benefit from eHealth technology in that they gained time in their own lives and did not have to travel to their treatment centre for supportive care, whereby people with cancer perceived an additionalreduced burden on their family caregivers (Dalby et al, 2021;Ownsworth et al, 2020).…”

“…This sense of connection was also evident in Moshen and colleagues' ( 2021) study of people with cancer and their access to education and personal medical information using eHealth technology. Despite this connection, a resounding sentiment was evident regarding how participants did not want eHealth technology to replace their in-person, face-to-face contact with their healthcare team (Brennan et al, 2020;Dalby et al, 2021;Ownsworth et al, 2020). People with cancer cited that technology may inhibit their ability to detail their individual experienced issues (Dalby et al, 2021;Drott et al, 2016;Crafoord et al, 2020), telephone conversations can feel rushed or encounter language/accent comprehension difficulties (Dalby et al, 2021), written contact with healthcare professionals lack of body language and verbal nuances (Högberg et al, 2015) and pertinent topics may require further discussion such as fear of cancer recurrence (Drott et al, 2016;Smith et al, 2020a) which may be overlooked using technology.…”

“…Despite this connection, a resounding sentiment was evident regarding how participants did not want eHealth technology to replace their in-person, face-to-face contact with their healthcare team (Brennan et al, 2020;Dalby et al, 2021;Ownsworth et al, 2020). People with cancer cited that technology may inhibit their ability to detail their individual experienced issues (Dalby et al, 2021;Drott et al, 2016;Crafoord et al, 2020), telephone conversations can feel rushed or encounter language/accent comprehension difficulties (Dalby et al, 2021), written contact with healthcare professionals lack of body language and verbal nuances (Högberg et al, 2015) and pertinent topics may require further discussion such as fear of cancer recurrence (Drott et al, 2016;Smith et al, 2020a) which may be overlooked using technology. Within dyads of people with cancer and family caregivers, eHealth technology facilitated several inter-personal benefits including enhanced communication styles, meaningful discussion, relationship strengths affirmations, improved intimacy, learning of each other's fears and encouragement to work together for shared goals (Fergus et al, 2014;Lambert et al, 2020;Song et al, 2015).…”

Factors Influencing Telemedicine Use at a Northern New England Cancer Center During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…14 As such, there have been limited data on the efficacy of telemedicine for cancer care across the domains of consultation, treatment, and survivorship. 4,7,[15][16][17] The COVID-19 pandemic led to widespread public health measures, including the use of lockdowns and restricted access to medical facilities. These measures, in combination with concerns regarding disease spread, resulted in sharp increases in the use of telemedicine across many medical disciplines.…”