Publication date: Jul 06, 2023
To evaluate the adoption of an integrated eHealth platform for televisit/monitoring/consultation during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the lockdown imposed by the Italian government during the COVID19 pandemic spread, a dedicated multi-professional working group was set up in the Radiation Oncology Department with the primary aim of reducing patients’ exposure to COVID-19 by adopting de-centralized/remote consultation methodologies. Each patient’s clinical history was screened before the visit to assess if a traditional clinical visit would be recommended or if a remote evaluation was to be preferred. Real world data (RWD) in the form of patient-reported outcomes (PROMs) and patient reported experiences (PREMs) were collected from patients who underwent televisit/teleconsultation through the eHealth platform. During the lockdown period (from 8 March to 4 May 2020) a total of 1956 visits were managed. A total of 983 (50. 26%) of these visits were performed via email (to apply for and to upload of documents) and phone call management; 31 visits (1. 58%) were performed using the eHealth system. Substantially, all patients found the eHealth platform useful and user-friendly, consistently indicating that this type of service would also be useful after the pandemic. The rapid implementation of an eHealth system was feasible and well-accepted by the patients during the pandemic. However, we believe that further evidence is to be generated to further support large-scale adoption.
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| Concepts | Keywords |
|---|---|
| Healthcare | digital health |
| Italian | radiation oncology |
| Pandemic | telemedicine |
| Proms | |
| Televisit |