Virtual healthcare

The speed at which our understanding of the role of virtual healthcare in cancer care has grown, means that studies are still needed to help this upcoming field transition from a temporary solution during the pandemic, to a permanent part of the cancer care experience.

A large part of virtual healthcare is telehealth, also known as telemedicine, and is healthcare provided by health care professionals (HCPs) using electronic devices such as symptom monitoring devices, including apps, video calls, phone calls, email messages and text messages. Despite telehealth improving the accessibility of healthcare, many feel that in-person visits are preferable for promoting a connection with patients and HCPs, as well as difficult conversations being better handled in person. Challenges for telehealth include lack of high-speed internet, language barriers and lack of knowledge with technology. This may lead to disparities within telehealth in oncology and exacerbate existing disparities.

As well as telehealth, large parts of clinical trials can now be performed virtually. For example, providing patients with the information that they need to decide whether to take part in a clinical trial can usually be done completely virtually. A large benefit of this could be faster clinical trial recruitment.

Looking towards the future, technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality could also aid in cementing telehealth into oncology clinical practice. Many experts think that the future will involve a mixture of telehealth and in-person care, to produce the optimal patient care experience. The focus is now on making virtual healthcare as available, accessible and as simple as possible for every patient to use.