Is Telemedicine a Mainstay for Head and Neck Cancer Patients?
Is Telemedicine a Mainstay for Head and Neck Cancer Patients? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.
Will head and neck cancer care continue with telemedicine in the future? Watch as expert Dr. Samantha Tam from Henry Ford Health System shares her perspective on her expectations for the use of telemedicine versus in-person visits with head and neck cancer patients.
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Transcript:
Samantha Tam, MD, FRCSC, MPH:
So while COVID-19 has forced us into utilizing telemedicine in context that we might not nearly have used them in the past, I think that telemedicine is here to stay, though perhaps not as wide spreading universal as it has been at the beginning of the pandemic. Telemedicine to me, seems to be a very good adjunct to our in-person visits, I think seeing patients and evaluating them in-person is essential in head and neck cancer throughout the treatment course. That being said, I think that telemedicine really adds a value into patient’s care, there are several ways that we have used this at Henry Ford in order to enhance access to our services, one is with patient intake, when we have some information, we can certainly start to…we can meet with you, get a good clinical history and understand exactly what is going on, and therefore expedite investigations that are required, and then condense our visits to just one in-person visit versus multiple in-person visits. Another way that I have used this is checking in with patients while they’re in the middle of treatment, sometimes patients are getting daily radiation, not close to my office, but I like to check on them to make sure from a symptom standpoint that they’re tolerating their treatment well.
And certainly coming down for a visit would be impossible, so checking in with them virtually has been a good way to monitor treatment side effects and to ensure everything is going smoothly from that standpoint. With surveillance, there have been also options that way to check in with patients that are more on the survivorship end of things to see how things are going that way though, I often do like to see patients in follow up in-person just so that we can also complete an endoscopic examination as clinically indicated.
Disparities in Telemedicine Access for Head and Neck Cancer Patients
Disparities in Telemedicine Access for Head and Neck Cancer Patients from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.
Which head and neck cancer patients have experienced disparities in telemedicine access? Watch as expert Dr. Samantha Tam from Henry Ford Health System explains patient demographics with less access to care and how these disparities can be reduced.
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Transcript:
Samantha Tam, MD, FRCSC, MPH:
So, during the pandemic, there was a large uptake of virtual care that was pretty unprecedented previously, and a lot of the times patients didn’t have any other options aside from accessing care through telemedicine because of the precautions that were taken within institutions in limiting in-person care. With this, we saw that there was a very specific demographic that we’re able to access telemedicine, and there were some patients that potentially could have been left behind. These patients are usually patients that have lower SES (socioeconomic status) indicators such as lower median household income, or perhaps lack of insurance coverage and the difficulty, especially in head and neck cancer, is that a lot of the times, these are the same patients that are at highest risk for head and neck cancers or have the highest needs in head and cancer. And certainly understanding who these patients are is extremely important, so that we ensure that we have equitable delivery of health care to these patients, and we don’t utilize these platforms that put these patients that are already at a disadvantage at more of a disadvantage.
Head and Neck Cancer, What Are Telemedicine Challenges and Opportunities?
Head and Neck Cancer, What Are Telemedicine Challenges and Opportunities? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.
For head and neck cancer patients, what barriers and opportunities have emerged from the addition of telemedicine? Watch as expert Dr. Samantha Tam from Henry Ford Health System shares insight about obstacles that she has seen for some patients and some helpful ways these challenges have been overcome in patient care.
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Transcript:
Samantha Tam, MD, FRCSC, MPH:
So there are lots of challenges and opportunities for virtual care and patients with head and neck cancer. One of the challenges is the fact that a lot of head and neck cancers occur within the upper air or digestive tract and therefore it’s very difficult to examine patients or to get an idea of the extent of their cancer, or the disabilities, or difficulties patients encounter as a result of their cancer, because of where the cancer is. On top of that, a lot of patients present to us with difficulties with communication, either they have hoarseness because of glottic cancer or maybe they have airway distress and they already have a tight tube resulting in their inability to formulate well, especially over virtual platforms such as the telephone or virtually through the Internet. These are the major challenges though, they can be overcome with things such as typing answers through the chat functions, as well as writing on a tablet in order for us to read. However, there have been a lot of opportunities for patients with head and neck cancers, I think that the major opportunities are with patients that are seeking help from allied health professionals such as speech language pathologists, psychologists, dietitians, social workers, a lot of these providers that are very involved in the care of patients throughout diagnosis, treatment as well as surveillance.
These visits are sometimes not requiring any physical examination, not requiring any endoscopic examination and may be well completed through a virtual platform such as telemedicine.
How Has the Pandemic Reshaped Head and Neck Cancer Care?
How Has the Pandemic Reshaped Head and Neck Cancer Care? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.
How has head and neck cancer care changed from the COVID-19 pandemic? Watch as expert Dr. Samantha Tam from Henry Ford Health System shares situations for in-person vs. telemedicine visits.
See More From The Head & Neck Cancer TelemEDucation Empowerment Resource Center
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Transcript:
Samantha Tam, MD, FRCSC, MPH:
COVID-19 has significantly changed how healthcare is delivered to patients with head and neck cancer. Traditionally head and neck cancer care has been delivered in-person visits because patients with head and neck cancers are often difficult to examine on a virtual platform, and on top of that, many patients have difficulties with communication, just given the ramifications of the disease. However, with COVID-19, we had a conscious effort to shift a lot of our care from in-person to virtual visits, and the area of telemedicine has been therefore greatly expanded in patients with head and neck cancer diagnosis. How head and neck cancer patients have been able to utilize telemedicine has been varied according to whether or not these patients are coming in for new diagnoses for follow-up care, for post-op diagnoses or for care during their treatment. And I feel that virtual care is really complementary as opposed to a substitute for patients with head and neck cancer because certainly there are innate difficulties in communication through the virtual platforms, as well as innate difficulties with examining patients adequately through the virtual platform.
That being said, there’s a lot of care, for example, with allied health professionals, or surveillance care that can be completed on a virtual platform that may use healthcare delivery to patients that may not be able to access in-person care on a regular basis
