Tag Archive for: virtual visits

How Will Telemedicine Impact Multiple Myeloma Clinical Trials?

How Will Telemedicine Impact Multiple Myeloma Clinical Trials? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo

What impact has telemedicine had on multiple myeloma clinical trials, and what effect will it have on trials in the future? Expert Dr. Joseph Mikhael explains the impact of telemedicine early on in the COVID-19 pandemic, how he uses virtual visits with his patients currently, and the role and benefits of telehealth in the future of myeloma care.

See More From the Myeloma TelemEDucation Empowerment Resource Center

Related Resources:

 

Are There Any Barriers for Multiple Myeloma Patients Using Telemedicine?

Will Telemedicine Be an Advantage for Multiple Myeloma Patients?

What Multiple Myeloma Populations Will Benefit from Telemedicine?

 

Transcript:

Dr. Joseph Mikhael:

COVID-19 has impacted our lives in just about every way imaginable, and in multiple myeloma, sadly has very much impacted our ability to conduct clinical trials. Thankfully, now that we are out of the immediate acute phase when many trials were suspended, we actually have been able to work around this in general, where now we’ve been able to re-introduce studies and bring in new studies, of course, and we can do so in a more careful manner. Many of our clinical trials now are allowing intermittently to have telemedicine visits, which reduces the traffic for patients and makes it a little bit smoother. Some of the questionnaires and the things that we used to have to fill out on paper or physically in-person now can be done electronically, and so I think in many respects, we’ve really overcome most of the barriers so that we can continue the outstanding work and clinical trials to provide options for our patients that were not available before.

And looking to the future, I hope, even paradoxically in some way that this may — now that we’ve developed a more sophisticated telemedicine platform — it may allow us to do more and perhaps reach patients that may not have been reached before, there are already studies and trials that are being done through telemedicine, not necessarily a drug trial but quality of life studies, engagement studies, educational studies, different ways that we can enhance a patient’s experience and investigate better ways of doing things now that we can do so more fully electronically.

So, when I think of telemedicine and the future in multiple myeloma, I think it will continue to have a role in the long term. I think, much like people think that there will be more virtual meetings, I think we all want to get back to in-person meetings of various types and sizes and shapes, there will always be a component of virtual, and I can think even in my own practice and some patients that have quite a long drive to come down to see me, that they will still have to have face-to-face visits, but intermittently when the things are going well, follow-up like visits where the discussion may be limited.

I think there will be a role for this so that we can leverage the best of telemedicine and the best of in-person medicine so that the patients can receive the best care possible.

Dr. Leanne Burnham’s Top Tips for Your Prostate Cancer Telemedicine Visit

Dr. Leanne Burnham’s Top Tips for Your Prostate Cancer Telemedicine Visit from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo

What are some ways that prostate cancer patients can prepare for telemedicine visits? Dr. Leanne Burnham shares her top tips for ensuring success and for getting the most out of televisit appointments.

See More From the Prostate Cancer TelemEDucation Empowerment Resource Center

Related Resources:

 

What Prostate Cancer Populations Will Benefit Most From Telemedicine?

How Will Telemedicine Impact Prostate Cancer Clinical Trials?

What Are the Benefits of Telemedicine for Prostate Cancer Patients?

 

Transcript:

Dr. Leanne Burnham

Okay, my top three tips to prepare for a telemedicine visit is if you would usually have an advocate come with you to your in-person doctor’s appointment, try to make that happen for your televisit appointment as well. And explain to your physician when you get on the call say, “Hey, this is my wife, this is my husband, and they’re going to be joining the call if they have a few questions too, and I would like to have them be involved as part of the conversation.” The other thing is to have your questions prepared ahead of time, you know, and a lot of people have questions prepared ahead of time for in-person visits, but they might be nervous, they might keep their questions tucked away, well, this way your questions can be on the table next to you. Your doctor doesn’t even know, you still get to ask those questions though, and then the third tip that I would have is to allow for technology to mess up. So, for your visits, a lot of times your physician may give you a window where they say, “We’re going to call you between such and such time,” such as such time, you just sitting there waiting for them to call. But I say give yourself even more time than that in case you know something’s going on with your Internet or you are just not able to log into the app well, because I did have that happen to me personally, one time with the physician, and they were trying to get ahold of me, and I was having trouble connecting, and then he emailed me later saying, “You missed our appointment.”

I really wasn’t trying to miss the appointment, so just give yourself that extra time to get your technology together.

What Are the Benefits of Telemedicine for Prostate Cancer Patients?

What Are the Benefits of Telemedicine for Prostate Cancer Patients? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo

What are some of the telemedicine benefits that prostate cancer patients can experience beyond the most obvious ones? Expert Dr. Leanne Burnham shares patient safety, logistical, and care option benefits that she has seen with telehealth for her patients — and also shares the percentage of prostate cancer patients who prefer virtual visits

See More From the Prostate Cancer TelemEDucation Empowerment Resource Center

Related Resources:

 

Dr. Leanne Burnham’s Top Tips for Your Prostate Cancer Telemedicine Visit

What Prostate Cancer Populations Will Benefit Most From Telemedicine?

How Will Telemedicine Impact Prostate Cancer Clinical Trials?

 

Transcript:

Dr. Leanne Burnham

So telemedicine is presenting all kinds of new opportunities for any patient, but in terms of prostate cancer patients they fall into that category as well. What we’re seeing is that actually, the majority of patients prefer telemedicine upwards of 75 percent prefer to have that option, and adding virtual care has a few benefits including you don’t have to travel to the doctor, and you have access to maybe more options, more physician options, more institutional options. Maybe there’s a setting where they have a treatment that the location that you previously have gone to, doesn’t have. You have an option to network outside of your usual team to speak with other specialists, maybe get a second opinion. So that is something that patients are really saying that they like in the time of COVID that we are right now, where telemedicine is definitely increasing.