A prospective multidisciplinary review of radiotherapy processes during the telemedicine era.

Authors

null

Rupesh Kotecha

Department of Radiation Oncology, Miami Cancer Institute, Baptist Health South Florida, Miami, FL

Rupesh Kotecha, Tugce Kutuk, Maria A. Valladares, Lorrie A. LeGrand, Muni Rubens, Gabriella Quintana, Monique Chisem, Haley Appel, Michael David Chuong, Matthew David Hall, Jessika Contreras, Marcio Fagundes, Alonso Gutierrez, Minesh P. Mehta

Organizations

Department of Radiation Oncology, Miami Cancer Institute, Baptist Health South Florida, Miami, FL, Department of Clinical Informatics, Miami Cancer Institute, Baptist Health South Florida, Miami, FL

Research Funding

No funding received
None

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the use of telemedicine for evaluation and management visits in radiation oncology departments to decrease in-person interactions. The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the utility of telemedicine for patient consultation and its effect on radiotherapy simulation and treatment processes. Methods: A standardized simulation requisition directive was used for all consults (telemedicine and in-person) undergoing simulation for external beam radiation therapy at a single tertiary care institution from January to December 2020. These directives were reviewed at daily multi-disciplinary peer review meetings; modifications occurring as a result of this review were prospectively recorded in a departmental quality database. Descriptive statistics were used to identify characteristics associated with consultation type. Mann Whitney and Chi-square tests were used to compare continuous and categorical variables. Results: 1500 consecutive patients were reviewed in this prospective peer review process; 444 (29.6%) had telemedicine visits preceding simulation and 1056 (70.4%) had in-person consults. The median time between physician simulation order and date of simulation was 5 days (IQR: 2-11 days) for telemedicine visits and 4 days (IQR: 1-8 days) for in-person consults (p<0.05). Significant differences were observed in telemedicine usage across months (p<0.05) with the highest percentage in July, September, and August (50%, 45.9% and 45%, respectively). As a result of prospective multidisciplinary peer review, 397 modifications in 290 simulations were recorded in total; 101/444 (22.7%) telemedicine simulations had modifications compared to 189/1056 (17.9%) following in-person consultation (p<0.05). The most common modifications for telemedicine visits resulted from immobilization device changes (n=32, 23.5%), arm positioning (n=19, 14.0%), and changes in the radiotherapy care path (n=17, 12.5%). For telemedicine consults, the median radiotherapy fraction dose was 2.66 Gy (2-4 Gy) and median fraction number was 16 (5-28). There was no difference for fractionation preference between telemedicine and in person consults (p=0.084). Seven (1.6%) telemedicine visits and 7 (0.7%) in-person consults needed re-simulation during the entire study period (p=0.136). Conclusions: Telemedicine is a powerful tool with the potential to revolutionize the radiation oncology daily practice. In the initial learning phase, it appears that there is a higher frequency of simulation modifications for patients evaluated by telemedicine. Therefore, as departmental processes incorporate telemedicine in the future, thorough attention is needed to encourage review of common modifications as well as identify patients at high risk of error at time of simulation who may also benefit from in-person evaluation prior to simulation.

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Abstract Details

Meeting

2021 ASCO Quality Care Symposium

Session Type

Poster Session

Session Title

Poster Session B: Patient Experience; Quality, Safety, and Implementation Science; Technology and Innovation in Quality of Care

Track

Technology and Innovation in Quality of Care,Patient Experience,Quality, Safety, and Implementation Science,Cost, Value, and Policy,Health Care Access, Equity, and Disparities

Sub Track

Impact of Telemedicine

Citation

J Clin Oncol 39, 2021 (suppl 28; abstr 282)

DOI

10.1200/JCO.2020.39.28_suppl.282

Abstract #

282

Poster Bd #

F17

Abstract Disclosures

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