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Patient behaviors during virtual clinic encounters in palliative care

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 June 2022

Monica T. Agosta Open the ORCID record for Monica T. Agosta [Opens in a new window] ,
Kaoswi Karina Shih ,
Marieberta Vidal Open the ORCID record for Marieberta Vidal [Opens in a new window] ,
Donna Zhukovsky  and
Eduardo Bruera
Monica T. Agosta*
Affiliation:
Department of Palliative, Rehabilitation and Integrative Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
Kaoswi Karina Shih
Affiliation:
Department of Palliative, Rehabilitation and Integrative Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
Marieberta Vidal
Affiliation:
Department of Palliative, Rehabilitation and Integrative Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
Donna Zhukovsky
Affiliation:
Department of Palliative, Rehabilitation and Integrative Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
Eduardo Bruera
Affiliation:
Department of Palliative, Rehabilitation and Integrative Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
*
Author for correspondence: Monica Agosta, Department of Palliative, Rehabilitation and Integrative Medicine, Unit 1414, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Holcombe Blvd, Houston, TX 77030, USA. E-mail: mtagosta@mdanderson.org
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Abstract

Telehealth use has accelerated since the COVID-19 pandemic and provided access for palliative care patients often facing challenges with travel and limited specialist availability. Our palliative care clinic at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center has rapidly adopted telehealth which continues to grow and provide care for patients since the pandemic, becoming a routine part of our center. While we strive to maintain consistency when it comes to compassionate, sensitive verbal and non-verbal communication, we have witnessed both advantages and disadvantages to telehealth services. We have come across unanticipated virtual visit challenges while trying to deliver quality care, surprising us from the other side of the camera. In this paper, we describe three cases of unexpected telehealth etiquette that posed new challenges in being able to complete virtual visits. We propose guidelines for setting patient etiquette for a productive telehealth palliative visit.

Keywords

COVID-19Palliative carePatient behavior in virtual carePatient telehealth guidelines
Type
Case Report
Information
Palliative & Supportive Care , Volume 21 , Issue 1 , February 2023 , pp. 178 - 180
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

*

Both authors contributed equally.

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