Micheal O'Cathail 1,2 , Luis Aznar-Garcia 1 , Ananth Sivanandan 1 , Claire Diver 3 , Poulam Patel 1,2 , Pui-Shan Tang 4 , Judith Christian 1 Show Affiliations »
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The National Health Service Long Term Plan details plans to make digital interactions available to all patients in 5 years. Teleconsultations can improve access to specialist services; however, there is a lack of evidence for the use of teleconsultations in an oncology setting in the United Kingdom. OBJECTIVE: We aim to describe a service evaluation of teleconsultations for patients attending a regional brain metastases clinic. These patients have unique travel restrictions that prevent them from driving. METHODS: From April to October 2018, all patients attending the brain metastases clinic were offered the choice of teleconsultation in place of a face-to-face appointment. Feedback was assessed using a satisfaction questionnaire, and data of all clinic attendances were collected. RESULTS: A total of 69 individual patients had 119 appointments over the duration of the pilot, of which 36 (30.2%) were new patient appointments and 73 (61.3%) were follow-ups. Of the 69 patients, 24 (35%) took part in teleconsultations (41/119, 34.5%). User satisfaction was high, and no patients who took part in a teleconsultation reverted to face-to-face appointments. These patients avoided 2521 miles (61.6 miles per appointment) of hospital-associated travel and travel costs of £441.48 (US $599.83) to £10.78 (US $14.65) per appointment. CONCLUSIONS: Teleconsultations appear to be acceptable in this cohort of patients with brain metastases attending a regional stereotactic radiosurgery service with the potential for significant savings in travel and expenses. ©Micheal O'Cathail, Luis Aznar-Garcia, Ananth Sivanandan, Claire Diver, Poulam Patel, Pui-Shan Tang, Judith Christian. Originally published in JMIR Formative Research (http://formative.jmir.org), 05.02.2021.
BACKGROUND: The National Health Service Long Term Plan details plans to make digital interactions available to all patients in 5 years. Teleconsultations can improve access to specialist services; however, there is a lack of evidence for the use of teleconsultations in an oncology setting in the United Kingdom. OBJECTIVE: We aim to describe a service evaluation of teleconsultations for patients attending a regional brain metastases clinic. These patients have unique travel restrictions that prevent them from driving. METHODS: From April to October 2018, all patients attending the brain metastases clinic were offered the choice of teleconsultation in place of a face-to-face appointment. Feedback was assessed using a satisfaction questionnaire, and data of all clinic attendances were collected. RESULTS: A total of 69 individual patients had 119 appointments over the duration of the pilot, of which 36 (30.2%) were new patient appointments and 73 (61.3%) were follow-ups. Of the 69 patients , 24 (35%) took part in teleconsultations (41/119, 34.5%). User satisfaction was high, and no patients who took part in a teleconsultation reverted to face-to-face appointments. These patients avoided 2521 miles (61.6 miles per appointment) of hospital-associated travel and travel costs of £441.48 (US $599.83) to £10.78 (US $14.65) per appointment. CONCLUSIONS: Teleconsultations appear to be acceptable in this cohort of patients with brain metastases attending a regional stereotactic radiosurgery service with the potential for significant savings in travel and expenses. ©Micheal O'Cathail, Luis Aznar-Garcia, Ananth Sivanandan, Claire Diver, Poulam Patel, Pui-Shan Tang, Judith Christian. Originally published in JMIR Formative Research (http://formative.jmir.org), 05.02.2021.
Entities: Chemical
Disease
Gene
Species
Keywords:
brain metastases; mobile phone; stereotactic radiosurgery; teleconsultations; telemedicine
Year: 2021
PMID： 33544082 PMCID： PMC7895639 DOI： 10.2196/15598
Source DB: PubMed Journal: JMIR Form Res ISSN： 2561-326X