What drives attitude towards remote palliative care among tumor patients amid the COVID-19 Pandemic ? A survey

Abstract

Background: To understand the status of cancer patients’ awareness and demand for remote palliative care service and to provide a reference for promoting the formulation of remote palliative care policy.Methods: A small across-section design involved a sample of 148 cancer adults in the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, who were conducted by self-designed questionnaire via the Questionnaire Star. The questionnaire contained basic information (14 items) and the attitude towards the remote palliative care (6 items).Results: The rate of patients who supported to take remote palliative care was 41.2%. It related with age, education level, occupation, family income, insurance type, self-care ability, smartphone and communication app using, and the using time(p＜0.05). Most of them hoped to get remote palliative care 24 hours. Almost half of the patients would like to be charged by items and they hoped the price of remote palliative care be cheap. Most of the patients didn’t really care about the working years and title of the care provider, but half of them more believed Grade 3, Class A hospital. The top three demand of remote palliative care were pain reducing, nutrition counseling, and nursing instruction.Conclusion: Remote palliative care has a good application prospect for cancer patients, but there are still some challenges, which need further exploration and development, including appropriate infrastructure, reasonable price and sufficient personnel to provide remote palliative care services.