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. 2023 Jul 6;11(13):1950.
doi: 10.3390/healthcare11131950.

KIT 1 (Keep in Touch) Project-Televisits for Cancer Patients during Italian Lockdown for COVID-19 Pandemic: The Real-World Experience of Establishing a Telemedicine System

Calogero Casà  1 , Barbara Corvari  2 , Francesco Cellini  2 , Patrizia Cornacchione  2 , Andrea D'Aviero  3 , Sara Reina  4 , Silvia Di Franco  4 , Alessandra Salvati  4 , Giuseppe Ferdinando Colloca  2 , Alfredo Cesario  2 , Stefano Patarnello  2 , Mario Balducci  2 , Alessio Giuseppe Morganti  5   6 , Vincenzo Valentini  2   4 , Maria Antonietta Gambacorta  2   4 , Luca Tagliaferri  2
Affiliations

KIT 1 (Keep in Touch) Project-Televisits for Cancer Patients during Italian Lockdown for COVID-19 Pandemic: The Real-World Experience of Establishing a Telemedicine System

Calogero Casà et al. Healthcare (Basel). .

Abstract

To evaluate the adoption of an integrated eHealth platform for televisit/monitoring/consultation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: 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.

Results: 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.

Conclusions: 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.

Keywords: digital health; radiation oncology; telemedicine.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare the following conflict of interest. Vincenzo Valentini: Amgen, Astellas, Astrazeneca, Bayer, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eisai, Ferring, Ipsen, Istitutogentili, Janssen-Cilag, MSD, Merck, Norgine, Novartis Farma, Pfizer, Roche, Sanofi, Servier Italia, Varian, Elekta, Viewray. Luca Tagliaferri: Elekta, Igea Medical, Molipharma, Nanobiotix, Roche, Sanofi, SunPharma.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Number of televisits during Italian lockdown period.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Flow diagram of visits scheduled during the Italian lockdown period (from 8 March to 4 May 2020).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Patient-reported outcomes measures (PROMs).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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