Rapid Scaling Up of Telehealth Treatment for Tobacco-Dependent Cancer Patients During the COVID-19 Outbreak in New York City.
Telemed J E Health
; 27(1): 20-29, 2021 01.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-640076
ABSTRACT
Background:
The (COVID-19) pandemic resulted in sudden disruption of routine clinical care necessitating rapid transformation to maintain clinical care while safely reducing virus contagion.Introduction:
Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) experienced a rapid evolution from delivery of in-person cessation counseling services to virtual telehealth treatments for our tobacco-dependent cancer patients.Aim:
To examine the effect of rapid scaling of tobacco treatment telehealth on patient engagement, as measured by attendance rates for in-person counseling visits versus remote telehealth counseling visits. We also describe the patient, clinician, and health care system challenges encountered in rapid expansion of individual and group tobacco telehealth services.Methods:
Data collected from the electronic medical record during the first 4 months of the COVID-19 pandemic were examined for tobacco treatment counseling.Results:
From January 1, 2020 to March 30, 2020, markedly improved patient engagement was observed in ambulatory tobacco treatment services with greater attendance at scheduled telehealth visits than in-person visits, 75% versus 60.3%, odds ratio 1.84 (confidence interval 1.26-2.71; p < 0.001). In addition, bedside hospital counseling visits were transformed into inpatient telephone visits with high levels of sustained patient engagement. Lastly, group telehealth services were launched rapidly to increase capacity and provide greater psychosocial support for cancer patients struggling with tobacco dependence.Discussion:
Clinical, Information Technology (IT), and hospital system barriers were successfully addressed for most cancer patients seeking individual telehealth treatment. Group telehealth services were found to be feasible and acceptable.Conclusions:
MSK's rapid leap into virtual care delivery mitigated disruption of tobacco treatment services and demonstrated strong feasibility and acceptance for managing complex tobacco-dependent patients.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Tobacco Use Disorder
/
Telemedicine
/
Counseling
/
COVID-19
/
Neoplasms
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Country/Region as subject:
North America
Language:
English
Journal:
Telemed J E Health
Journal subject:
Medical Informatics
/
Health Services
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Tmj.2020.0194
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