A study of the outcomes of telemedicine with usual care versus usual care in palliative cancer patients
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Abstract
Background: The Coronavirus pandemic saw changes in palliative care that included increased telemedicine usage. Data regarding the effectiveness of telemedicine remains inconclusive. This study’s primary purpose was to use the Palliative care Outcome Scale (POS) to compare quality-of-life outcomes for two groups of palliative cancer patients: one receiving telemedicine (alongside conventional care) and another receiving only standard care. The secondary objective compared the number of emergency department visits made by both groups of patients.
Method: Fifty-eight cancer patients at Ramathibodi Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand, took part in a study between January 2021 and January 2022. They were (randomly) assigned to the two test groups. At the second, fourth, and sixth weeks of the study, researchers used the Thai language POS to evaluate quality-of-life outcomes and analysed resultant data with a Mann-Whitney U test.
Results: Results showed the telemedicine and standard care group received scores of 8 (6,11), 6 (4,10.5), and 6.5 (2.5,13) at the end of each period while the other group received outcome scores of 9 (5,12), 8.5 (5.5,15.5), and 7 (5,11) for the same periods. Analysis showed no significant difference between these outcomes nor a significant difference in emergency department visits made by the members of the two groups. Conclusion:The quality of life and number of emergency department visits made by patients who received telemedicine (combined with usual care) did not differ from patients who received only conventional care. Further studies should be conducted in other hospital contexts to verify these results
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