key: cord-0983767-wz4ccqqv
authors: Kenney, Lisa B.; Vrooman, Lynda M.; Lind, Eileen Duffey; Brace‐O'Neill, Jill; Mulder, Jean E.; Nekhlyudov, Larissa; Recklitis, Christopher J.
title: Virtual visits as long‐term follow‐up care for childhood cancer survivors: Patient and provider satisfaction during the COVID‐19 pandemic
date: 2021-02-08
journal: Pediatr Blood Cancer
DOI: 10.1002/pbc.28927
sha: 0aa4b30fe431e5c2a56f0cf9d1258726ca19d531
doc_id: 983767
cord_uid: wz4ccqqv

Telemedicine can potentially meet objectives of long‐term follow‐up care (LTFU) for childhood cancer survivors (CCS) while reducing barriers. We surveyed providers at our institution about their satisfaction with video‐conference virtual visits (VV) with 81 CCS during COVID‐19 restrictions. The same 81 CCS (or parent proxies) were surveyed about their experience, of which 47% responded. Providers and CCS were highly satisfied with VV (86% and 95% “completely/very satisfied,” respectively). CCS rated VV “as/nearly as” helpful as in‐person visits (66%) and 82% prefer VV remain an option postpandemic. High levels of survivor and provider satisfaction with VV support ongoing investigation into implementation for LTFU.

Slightly/not at all 0 0

Helpfulness compared to IPV As/nearly as helpful 25 66

Moderately helpful, but less helpful 9 24

Much/very much less 4 11 Not at all helpful 0 0 (Continues)

n %

All/almost all VV 14 37

Mixed VV and IPV depending on need 17 45

All/almost all IPV 7 18

Abbreviations: IPV, in-person visit; N/A, not applicable; VV, virtual visit.

Despite these limitations, providers were highly satisfied with VV, with 37% reporting they were "completely" satisfied and 49% "very" satisfied. To explore correlates of provider satisfaction, we compared visits rated as "completely" or "very" satisfied (n = 81) to all other visits (n = 13) using logistic regression ( 

Most CCS identified as female (63%) and were between the age of 18 and 29 (40%). CCS reported the most helpful content of the VV was getting specific recommendations for follow-up testing and learning about recommendations for cancer-related LTFU (76% and 68%, respectively) ( Table 3) . Discussions of emotional health were also reported as helpful by most CCS (61%). Satisfaction level with VV was high, with almost all respondents "completely" (61%) or "very" satisfied (34%). Fisher's exact tests comparing "completely" satisfied respondents to all others revealed no significant differences on gender, age category, or respondent type (patient vs. parent/guardian; p's > .05, data not shown). Most CCS rated their VV "as" or "nearly as" helpful as an in-person LTFU visit (66%) and expressed a preference for future VV either in combination with (45%), or as a substitute for all/nearly all IPV (37%).

Childhood cancer survivors and providers in our survivorship prac- 

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Virtual visits as long-term follow-up care for childhood cancer survivors: Patient and provider satisfaction during the COVID-19 pandemic