Purpose

The rapid expansion of telemedicine has presented a challenge for the care of patients with genitourinary malignancies. We sought to assess patient and physician perspectives on the use of telemedicine for genitourinary cancer care.

Methods

We conducted a prospective cross-sectional study of patients who had telemedicine visits with urology, medical oncology, or radiation oncology for management of genitourinary malignancies from July-August 2020. Patients and physicians each received a questionnaire regarding the telemedicine experience. Responses were scored on a 5-point Likert scale. The primary outcomes of the study were patient and physician satisfaction.

Results

Of the 115 patients who enrolled, we received 96 patient responses and 46 physician responses. Overall, 77% of patients and 70% of physicians reported being “extremely satisfied” with the telemedicine encounter. Satisfaction was high among all components of the encounter including patient-physician communication, counseling, shared decision making, time spent, timeliness and efficiency, and convenience. Additionally, 78% of patients and 85% of physicians “strongly agreed” that they were able to discuss sensitive topics about cancer care as well as they could at an in-person visit. Nine telemedicine visits (9%) encountered technological barriers. Technological barriers were associated with lower overall satisfaction scores among both patients and physicians (p ≤ 0.01).

Conclusion

We observed high levels of patient and physician satisfaction for telemedicine visits for management of genitourinary malignancies. Technological barriers were encountered by 9% of patients and were associated with decreased satisfaction.

中文翻译：

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泌尿生殖系统恶性肿瘤的远程医疗：患者和医生的观点

目的

远程医疗的快速扩展对泌尿生殖系统恶性肿瘤患者的护理提出了挑战。我们试图评估患者和医生对远程医疗用于泌尿生殖系统癌症护理的看法。

方法

我们对 2020 年 7 月至 8 月期间通过泌尿外科、肿瘤内科或放射肿瘤科进行远程医疗访问以治疗泌尿生殖系统恶性肿瘤的患者进行了一项前瞻性横断面研究。患者和医生均收到了一份关于远程医疗体验的问卷。回答采用李克特 5 分制评分。研究的主要结果是患者和医生的满意度。

结果

在登记的 115 名患者中，我们收到了 96 名患者响应和 46 名医生响应。总体而言，77% 的患者和 70% 的医生表示对远程医疗体验“非常满意”。对会面的所有组成部分的满意度都很高，包括医患沟通、咨询、共同决策、花费的时间、及时性和效率以及便利性。此外，78% 的患者和 85% 的医生“强烈同意”他们能够像亲自就诊一样讨论有关癌症护理的敏感话题。9 次远程医疗访问 (9%) 遇到了技术障碍。技术障碍与患者和医生的总体满意度得分较低有关（p ≤ 0.01）。

结论

我们观察到患者和医生对治疗泌尿生殖系统恶性肿瘤的远程医疗访问的满意度很高。9% 的患者遇到了技术障碍，并与满意度下降有关。