Abstract
Objective
To describe the use of telemedicine in gynecologic oncology and identify patient characteristics associated with telemedicine use during COVID-19.
Methods
Single-institution retrospective chart review of patients with gynecologic cancer who participated in in-person and telemedicine visits (video and telephone) from January 2019 to November 2020. Patient characteristics, visit and treatment characteristics were collected. Comparisons between 2019 and 2020 and between in-person and telemedicine visits were performed. Cancer-specific visit details were described.
Results
From January to November 2020, 2,039 patients attended 5240 ambulatory visits in our gynecologic oncology outpatient clinics with 4,304 (82.1%) in-person visits, 512 (9.8%) video telemedicine visits, and 424 (8.1%) telephone visits. In 2020, 936 (45.9%) patients participated in a telemedicine visit. Demographic characteristics did not differ between those who participated in any telemedicine versus in-person visits (p > 0.05). Black patients represented a larger share of telephone visits but this was not significant. Patients aged > 65 years were more likely to use the telephone for a visit and less likely to use video visits compared to their younger counterparts. The majority of patients who attended a telemedicine visit also attended a visit in-person (88.0%). The most common purpose of the telemedicine visits was to discuss results and/or treatment plans (46%) with other appointments occurring for treatment check-ins and clinical trials.
Conclusions
The use of telemedicine drastically increased in 2020. Patient demographics were not different between in-person and telemedicine visits except that older patients were more likely to use telephone visits over video visits. Telemedicine can be used for a variety of care needs in gynecologic oncology but further work needs to be done to optimize implementation, assess cost-effectiveness and patient outcomes.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, Telemedicine, Ehealth literacy, 【초록키워드】 Treatment, Cancer, clinical trials, clinics, outcomes, older patient, Characteristics, implementation, oncology, Patient, demographic, Care, retrospective, demographics, not significant, telemedicine visits, objective, Result, not differ, described, identify, performed, collected, can be used, majority, less, variety, not different, Black patient, in-person visit, participated, telemedicine visit, 【제목키워드】 Cancer, Patient, lesson,