TELEHEALTH: Becoming a Real Alternative to Face-to-Face Consultations

Telehealth’s Sudden Rise During the Pandemic

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth (remote healthcare) was still in its infancy despite being feasible for many years. Its use was limited, largely to patients in remote areas. This changed overnight when the pandemic began, with hospitals and doctors adopting a hybrid model for many cancer patients’ follow-up care.

The pandemic generated extensive data on telehealth’s benefits and challenges. We now have an excellent opportunity to assess whether, when and how telehealth and digital medicine can offer a genuinely safe and effective alternative to in-person healthcare.

Turkey also quickly introduced rules to provide a legal basis for telehealth. On February 10, 2022, the “Regulation on Remote Healthcare Services” was published. Before this regulation, a physician could not make medical decisions or issue prescriptions remotely without examining the patient in person. Today, seeking a second specialist opinion through an online consultation is becoming increasingly common.

Advantages of Telehealth

Telehealth consultations and digital health technologies offer enormous advantages for patients and families. For example, geographically dispersed relatives can join online appointments, making it much easier to exchange information.

The move to digital medicine has empowered patients by giving them easy access to electronic health records. Although portals such as E-nabız have existed for some time, their use has increased substantially in recent years. Their functionality has also expanded enormously: patients can now access a wide range of clinical information, including doctors’ notes, imaging results and pathology findings.

The Challenge of Delivering Difficult News Remotely

Immediate access to results is clearly important and reassuring. It also raises the question of how best to communicate potentially distressing news. Many patients prefer to receive it from their doctor in person, allowing the physician to explain results and next steps properly and provide support. Others may want to review results independently before meeting their doctor. However, many oncologists worry that patients receiving bad news through telehealth applications may feel anxious or unsupported while waiting to speak to a doctor. There is also concern that patients may turn to the internet and encounter misinformation that causes further distress.

Better, Real-Time Patient Monitoring

Another advantage of digital medicine is remote, real-time symptom monitoring rather than waiting weeks between consultations. Cancer patients have a large and varied symptom burden, often alongside symptoms of chronic illness. Digital monitoring tools can improve communication with physicians and give doctors a better understanding of patients’ daily wellbeing and physical functioning. Monitoring also allows doctors to respond proactively to changing needs, for example by stopping medications or adjusting doses.

The Transition to Truly Digital Healthcare Has Begun

Over the past two decades, digital technologies have transformed daily life beyond recognition, and healthcare is no exception. In our experience, most patients have readily adapted to electronic health technologies. Today’s challenge is integrating telehealth into existing healthcare systems. We have developed excellent digital tools but still struggle to adapt the clinical workforce to respond to their real-time data; more data require more, and smarter, analysis. Healthcare professionals also need to learn how to improve telehealth consultations. Body language can be vital to a successful consultation and difficult to reproduce virtually. Teaching telehealth consultation skills will be crucial for both current and future healthcare professionals.