ABSTRACT
Objective: To investigate the patient experience of telemedicine for headache care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Background: The use of telemedicine has rapidly expanded and evolved since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, few studies have assessed the patient perspective of telemedicine for headache care. Design/Methods: The American Migraine Foundation (AMF) designed a standardized electronic questionnaire to assess the patient experience of telemedicine for headache care between March and September 2020. The questionnaire was distributed electronically to more than 100,000 members of the AMF community through social media platforms and the AMF email database. Results: 1172 patients responded to our electronic questionnaire, with 1098 complete responses. 648/1127 (57.5%) patients reported that they had used telemedicine for headache care during the study period. Among those who participated in telehealth visits, 553/647 (85.5%) patients used it for follow-up visits;94/647 (14.5%) patients used it for new patient visits. During the telemedicine encounters, patients were evaluated by headache specialists, general neurologists, primary care providers, and headache nurse practitioners. Only 47/633 (7.4%) patients received a new headache diagnosis from telemedicine evaluation, whereas 586/633 (92.6%) patients did not have a change in their diagnoses. During these visits, a new treatment was prescribed for 358/636 (52.3%) patients, whereas 278/636 (43.7%) patients did not. The number (%) of patients who rated the telemedicine headache care experience as “very good,” “good,” “fair,” “poor,” and “other” were 396/638 (62.1%), 132/638 (20.7%), 67/638 (10.5%), 23/638 (3.6%), and 20/638 (3.1%), respectively. Most patients, 573/638 (89.8%), indicated that they would prefer to continue to use telemedicine for their headache care. Conclusions: Our study evaluating the patient perspective demonstrated that telemedicine facilitated headache care for many patients during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in high patient satisfaction rates, and a desire to continue to use telemedicine for future headache care among those who completed the online survey.
ABSTRACT
Background/Purpose: Provision of education about selfmanagement to cancer survivors is a critical component of quality survivorship care and may improve survivors' ability to understand common/distressing symptoms, learn self-management strategies, and improve quality-of-life. Traditionally, education about psychosocial issues has occurred in clinical settings via in-person meetings with health care professionals. However, social-distancing restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in hospital settings, have significantly limited survivors' access to educational experiences. Methods: To address this issue, members of a survivorship center at a large healthcare system developed and delivered a 3-part series of psychoeducational webinars for cancer survivors addressing 1) Health Behaviors, 2) Mental Health, and 3) Long-term Late-Effects. Each webinar was 1-h long and offered at time deemed convenient for survivors based on pre-seminar surveys administered to 50 survivors inquiring about preferences for webinar content, format, length, and timing. All sessions were delivered via password-enable Zoom meetings, which were recorded and posted online, allowing attendees to review sessions and reach those who were unable to attend original presentations. Results: The virtual webinars were attended by 19, 18, 25 (total = 62) survivors respectively. A post-webinar survey was completed by 15 attendees (breast = 4, colorectal = 3, gynecological = 1, healthcare professional = 4, and other = 3). Most attendees were within 5 years of their diagnosis (94%), over the age of 50 (80%), and female (95%). Results of the survey indicated that attendees felt the Zoom platform was acceptable (100%), information was helpful (75%), well-organized (75%), and speakers were knowledgeable (75%). Importantly, attendees indicated they learned important survivorship self-management skills (90%). Conclusions and Implications: Results indicate survivors were satisfied with the format, content, and speakers, and learned important survivorship skills. However, respondents also suggested allowing more time for the sessions (90 vs. 60 min) and for Q and A. Future efforts will focus on attracting more, diverse attendees, increasing the length of the webinars, including patient/survivor/ advocate presenters, and adding new topics.