Internal medicine journal
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Internal medicine journal · Jul 2012
Medical oncology clinics through videoconferencing: an acceptable telehealth model for rural patients and health workers.
Since 2007, Townsville Cancer Centre (Queensland, Australia) has provided routine and urgent medical oncology services to rural and remote communities through videoconferencing. At remote sites, patients were accompanied by doctors and other health workers. The aim of this study was to describe satisfaction of patients and rural health workers with this model of teleoncology. ⋯ Satisfaction with this model of care was proven to be high among both patients and health workers. Benefits perceived included effective communication between patients and specialists, reduced travel time and money expenditure, and superior specialist support for rural health workers.