Exploring cancer patients', caregivers', and clinicians' utilisation and experiences of telehealth services during COVID-19: A qualitative study.
Patient Educ Couns
; 105(10): 3134-3142, 2022 10.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1946244
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES:
The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted oncology. With pandemic restrictions limiting close contact between individuals, telehealth (the use of teleconferencing/videoconferencing to conduct real-time medical consultations) has been increasingly utilised. This qualitative study aimed to explore adult cancer patient, caregiver, and clinician (doctor, nurse, allied health) telehealth experiences during COVID-19 in urban and rural Australian settings and identify potential enablers and barriers to sustained telehealth implementation.METHODS:
English-speaking participants completed semi-structured interviews regarding their telehealth experiences since March 2020. Interviews ceased when data saturation occurred. Iterative thematic analysis was conducted using NVivo 12 Pro.RESULTS:
Thirty-four interviews (clinician=14, patient=13, caregiver=7) were conducted from April to August 2021. Analysis generated seven themes relating to telehealth use 1) Acceptability as a form of consultation, 2) Impacts on healthcare provision, 3) Communication & relationships, 4) Efficient form of consultation, 5) Comfort of conducting telehealth in different environments, 6) Technological barriers and 7) Future preferences.CONCLUSIONS:
The rapid uptake of telehealth during the pandemic has mostly been well-received, and telehealth can be appropriately used in oncology. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS Barriers including providing appropriate facilities, technology, and telehealth training; and selecting appropriate patients must be addressed to enable sustained telehealth use in future cancer care.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Telemedicine
/
COVID-19
/
Neoplasms
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Qualitative research
Limits:
Adult
/
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
Oceania
Language:
English
Journal:
Patient Educ Couns
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
J.pec.2022.06.001
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