ESTRO 2024 - Abstract Book

S2824

Interdisciplinary - Health economics & health services research

ESTRO 2024

Keywords: Carbon footprint, Green

1673

Digital Poster

Advancing in Radiation Oncology Care: A Year of Telemedicine in a Brazilian Public Hospital.

Danilo N S Gomes 1 , André L P Santos 2 , Wanessa F Altei 1 , Natália Campacci 3

1 Barretos Cancer Hospital, Radiation Oncology, Barretos, Brazil. 2 Barretos Cancer Hospital, Digital Health, Barretos, Brazil. 3 University of São Paulo, School of Nursing, São Paulo, Brazil

Purpose/Objective:

The COVID-19 pandemic catalyzed the rapid expansion of telemedicine, revolutionizing healthcare delivery. However, its widespread application remains in its early stages, particularly within the domain of radiation oncology. This study aims to evaluate the role of telemedicine in radiotherapy, drawing insights from a year-long telemedicine initiative in a Brazilian public hospital. Specific objectives include identifying key areas within radiotherapy suitable for teleconsultation, evaluating the advantages and disadvantages of employing teleconsultation, identifying implementation barriers for telemedicine, delineating technological and human prerequisites, and assessing patient and healthcare professional satisfaction levels.

Material/Methods:

The present study consists of a comprehensive review of the literature on the theme of telemedicine in the field of radiation oncology, along with the sharing of a one-year experience in radiotherapy consultations via telemedicine at a Brazilian public oncology hospital. For the literature review, a systematic search was conducted in PubMed using the keywords "Telemedicine" AND "Radiation Oncology" OR "Radiotherapy" and related terms for the literature review. Articles specifically addressing telemedicine in radiotherapy were included. In the radiotherapy department, telemedicine was primarily utilized for follow-up consultations and were conducted in a dedicated facility within the department or at the central Telehealth unit. For the experiential report, a descriptive analysis was performed on the indicators of medical care scheduled via teleconsultation by the radiotherapy department throughout the year 2022. Variables analyzed included gender, age, number of scheduled consultations, number of consultations conducted, number of consultations not conducted, and the reason for non-completion of the consultation. Additionally, information regarding patient origin and the results of the satisfaction survey for consultations were shared.

Results:

After a systematic search, we identified 166 articles published between 1996 and 2022. The title and abstract of the articles were reviewed, excluding those not related to the scope of the review. This resulted in a final selection of 77 articles and 66 (85.7%) were published in the last 3 years (2020-2022), confirming the limited research on the