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Providing Supportive and Palliative Care Using Telemedicine for Patients with Advanced Cancer During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Mexico

2020; AlphaMed Press; Volume: 26; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1002/onco.13568

1549-490X

Yanin Chávarri-Guerra, Wendy Alicia Ramos-López, Alfredo Covarrubias‐Gómez, Sofía Sánchez-Román, Paulina Quiróz-Friedman, Natasha Alcocer‐Castillejos, María del Pilar Milke-García, Mónica Carrillo-Soto, Andrea Morales-Alfaro, Mildred E Medina-Palma, José Carlos Aguilar-Velazco, Karen Morales-Barba, Andrea Razcon-Echegaray, Jenny Maldonado, Enrique Soto‐Pérez‐de‐Celis,

COVID-19 and healthcare impacts

Abstract COVID-19 has overwhelmed the capacity of health care systems, limiting access to supportive and palliative care for patients with advanced cancer. Telemedicine has emerged as a tool to provide care continuity to patients while limiting the risk of contagion. However, implementing telemedicine in resource-limited settings is challenging. We report the results of a multidisciplinary patient-navigator-led telemedicine supportive care program in Mexico City. One-hundred sixty-three telemedicine interventions were provided to 45 patients (median age 68, 57% female). A quarter of the patients had less than or equal to elementary school education, and 15% lived in a rural area. The most common interventions were psychological care (33%), pain and symptom control (25%), and nutritional counseling (13%). Half of the interventions were provided by video conferencing. The most common patient-reported barrier was limited experience using communication technology. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of providing supportive and palliative care interventions using telemedicine in resource-limited settings.