Virtual Consultations: Considering Staff Training and Patient Experience
摘要
Virtual cancer consultations were developed in response to the pandemic as a rapid response rather than as a planned activity to enable a sustainable service. Benefits include patient safety and saved time for patients and clinicians. These are likely most appropriate for patients who do not require examination. Importantly, patients and staff can become anxious and struggle with the technology. Generally, virtual patient education and films to view during treatment can be beneficial. Group systemic anti-cancer therapy (SACT) pre-treatment consultations have been successful, both delivered in person and online. The preparing patients for anti-cancer therapy (PrePACT) group education project will be presented as a case study for how to plan a sustainable service. This project developed digital resources and an online group pre-treatment consultation aimed to psychologically and practically prepare patients and their family members for SACT and to manage and report their symptoms, whilst simultaneously delivering a more sustainable virtual consultation service. The majority of patients and their family members found the online group pre-treatment consultations useful and were satisfied with the resources and discussions as well as feeling prepared for treatments and confident they could manage side effects. However, some patients and their family members did not feel comfortable in a group setting or struggled with digital access. Telehealth has a place, but some mitigation is needed for all patients to be able to access cancer services. The key to longevity/sustainability is using a planned approach. It will be interesting to see the sustainability of those set up as a rapid response versus those set up as a planned project. Education and training to manage complex interventions to engage patients in their care are of utmost importance. Core to success will be co-design, using evidence-based approaches and ongoing evaluation and review due to the dynamic, sensitive and risky nature of cancer nursing.