Patient and Physician Attitudes Toward Telemedicine in Cancer Clinics Following the COVID-19 Pandemic.

PURPOSE: COVID-19 has infected more than 94 million people worldwide and caused more than 2 million deaths. Patients with cancer are at significantly increased risk compared with the general population. Telemedicine represents a common strategy to prevent viral spread. We sought to evaluate patient with cancer and physician perceptions of telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: A 16-question survey was e-mailed to 1,843 active e-mails of patients presenting to one of the six cancer clinics at a comprehensive cancer care center from January 1, 2020, to June 1, 2020. A six-question survey was e-mailed to attending physicians of those clinics. Specialties included Medical Oncology, Hematology-Oncology, Surgical Oncology, Urological Oncology, and Gynecologic Oncology. RESULTS: Three hundred seventy-four patients (20.3%) and 14 physicians (66.7%) responded. Most (68.2%) currently prefer in-person visits, and 80.4% prefer in-person visits following pandemic resolution. More than half (52.2%) of patients preferring virtual visits do so because of convenience. Most (63.1%) patients with cancer are comfortable with a complete physical examination. Surgical patients are more likely to prefer a complete examination (P = .0476). Physicians prefer in-person visits (64.2%) and believe that virtual visits maybe or probably do not provide comparable care (64.2%). 71.4% believe that virtual visits help prevent the spread of infectious disease. CONCLUSION: Given preferences for in-person visits, cancer care teams should be prepared to continue providing in-person visits for many of their patients. The discrepancy between patient and provider concern for spread of infectious disease represents an area where patients may benefit from increased education. Providers should feel comfortable performing physical examinations at their own discretion.

COVID-19 Impact on Colorectal Daily Practice-How Long Will It Take to Catch Up?

BACKGROUND: All elective surgeries have been postponed at our institution starting 3/16/20 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We assessed changes in hospital resource utilization and estimated the future backlog of cases in the colorectal surgery division of a large safety-net hospital. METHODS: Patients undergoing colorectal procedures from 3/16/20 to 4/23/20 (COVID) were compared with those from January through June 2018 (historical). Resource utilization rates were calculated by weekly case volumes and hospital stay in each group. A future catch up timeframe and new wait times from scheduling to surgery dates were calculated. RESULTS: The COVID and historical groups included 13 and 239 patients, respectively. The COVID group showed a 74% relative decrease in weekly surgical case rates (9.2 to 2.4 patients per week). Both groups had similar lengths of stay. The COVID group had a longer average ICU stay (1.4 ± 2.5 days vs. 0.4 ± 1.2 days, P = 0.016) and a 132% increase in ICU resource utilization. Overall, the COVID group had a 48% relative decrease in hospital resource utilization, owing to reduced volume but higher acuity. If the surgery numbers returns to pre-COVID volumes, the calculated "catch up" times range from 4.6 weeks to 9.2 weeks. Wait times for new cases may increase by 70% compared with pre-COVID levels. CONCLUSION: Cancelling elective colorectal surgeries results in a decrease in overall but increase in ICU-specific resource utilization. Though necessary, cancellations result in an increasing backlog of cases that poses significant future logistical and clinical challenges in an already overburdened safety-net hospital. Effective triage systems will be critical to prioritize this backlog.