Purpose: The rapid expansion of telemedicine has presented a challenge for the care of patients with genitourinary malignancies. We sought to assess patient and physician perspectives on the use of telemedicine for genitourinary cancer care.
Methods: We conducted a prospective cross-sectional study of patients who had telemedicine visits with urology, medical oncology, or radiation oncology for management of genitourinary malignancies from July-August 2020. Patients and physicians each received a questionnaire regarding the telemedicine experience. Responses were scored on a 5-point Likert scale. The primary outcomes of the study were patient and physician satisfaction.
Results: Of the 115 patients who enrolled, we received 96 patient responses and 46 physician responses. Overall, 77% of patients and 70% of physicians reported being "extremely satisfied" with the telemedicine encounter. Satisfaction was high among all components of the encounter including patient-physician communication, counseling, shared decision making, time spent, timeliness and efficiency, and convenience. Additionally, 78% of patients and 85% of physicians "strongly agreed" that they were able to discuss sensitive topics about cancer care as well as they could at an in-person visit. Nine telemedicine visits (9%) encountered technological barriers. Technological barriers were associated with lower overall satisfaction scores among both patients and physicians (p ≤ 0.01).
Conclusion: We observed high levels of patient and physician satisfaction for telemedicine visits for management of genitourinary malignancies. Technological barriers were encountered by 9% of patients and were associated with decreased satisfaction.
Keywords: Patient satisfaction; Telehealth; Telemedicine; Urologic oncology; Urology.
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