Survey on the effectiveness of telephone-based communication with relatives of hospitalized cancer patients in COVID-19 era in Italy

Abstract

Objective No-visitor policies adopted to prevent coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) spread in hospital wards have deeply impacted communication with patients and their relatives. Whereas in pre-COVID-19 era family-clinician meetings were held in person, during the pandemic interactions often took place over the phone, frequently causing feelings of uncertainty and distress to the close ones at home. The goal of this study was to assess and improve the effectiveness of structured telephone-based communication with hospitalized onco-hematological patients’ relatives in COVID-19 era. Methods After no-visitor policy was adopted in the Onco-Hematological Unit of Modena, inpatients’ relatives were contacted daily for clinical updates. After discharge, a telephone satisfaction survey was administered to all contact people of patients consecutive admitted between December 2020 and January 2021 ( n = 97). Mean score of response and potential statistically significative differences depending on respondents’ characteristics were assessed. Results Most relatives were satisfied with the communication received with a mean total score of 4.69 on a 5-point Likert scale (standard deviation: 0.60). Results showed high satisfaction rate with both the informative (mean ± SD: 4.66 ± 0.64) and emotional (mean ± SD: 4.66 ± 0.58) content, with no significant difference depending on respondents’ demographic characteristics ( p > 0.05). Conclusion A structured telephone-based communication may be a reasonable substitute for face-to-face meetings; especially if regular in time, conducted by the same doctor and integrated with video calls. Our findings might assist health workers in implementing measures to minimize the psychological effects of no-visitor policies during hospitalization. Clinical updates delivery through structured phone calls and video calls could become an opportunity also in post-COVID era.

Communication of oncological patients with oncologists: main problems and problem-solving strategies

“…In this case, effective dialogue can be quite challenging, however, clinicians face this daily. In recent decades, clinical communication has been studied a lot, and, several structured approaches have been developed and suggested [8,18,19].…”

“…An interesting and important fact should be taken into account for providing high-quality medical care is that communication with critically ill patients is often three-way, rather than two-way involving not only the specialist and the patient but also family members who are often the main support, an important part of the medical team and the component of communication for the health of their relatives. A high level of depression and burden on the caregiver was registered among the patients and relatives of the hospitalised oncological patients [8,30]. Therefore, targeted intervention in the field of physicianpatient communication can improve the quality of life for both patients and their families.…”

“…Physical bar riers and nonvisitation policy had a significant impact on communication in a hospital settings. Physicians need new strategies to keep in touch with patients and their families/relatives [8,9]. In the era of COVID-19, in order to solve the challenges for effective physician-patient communication for oncological patients, when physical distancing is required, different solutions have been suggested, particularly, video calls were introduced by using smartphones and tablets [10].…”

Experiences of healthcare professionals, patients and families with video calls to stimulate patient‐ and family‐centred care during hospitalization: A scoping review

“…Twenty-seven articles studied the experiences of families of hospitalized patients regarding the use of video calls (Table 2). Families reported satisfaction with video call services, as it facilitated communication with healthcare professionals about the care of their loved ones (Bettini, 2020;Dainty et al, 2023;Dhahri et al, 2021;Moraes & Chiaradia Mendes-Castillo, 2023;Nicholas et al, 2011;Riccò et al, 2022;Yager et al, 2017). As a result, families felt more engaged in the treatment process (Ranu et al, 2021;Yager et al, 2017).…”

“…Chua, 2022;Conroy et al, 2021;Dol et al, 2017;Elma et al, 2022;Epstein et al, 2017;Kennedy et al, 2021;Nelson et al, 2022;Riccò et al, 2022;Rose et al, 2021;Rose, Graham, et al, 2022;Shunker, 2022;Xyrichis et al, 2022;Zante et al, 2022). Video calls were also used on PICUs and NICUs for parents seeing their infant(Epstein et al, 2017;Giuseppe et al, 2022;Ranu et al, 2021;Yang et al, 2014), and for communication and updates between parents and healthcare professionals about the child(Bavare et al, 2021;Bettini, 2020;Dol et al, 2017;Moraes & Chiaradia Mendes- Castillo, 2023;Nicholas et al, 2011;Yager et al, 2017).…”