engleski

Communication specifics with cancer patients during the COVID-19 pandemic in Croatia: Can a virtual visit meet the needs of cancer patients?

Background: In this study, we focused on communicating with cancer patients on active treatment during the first lockdown due to the COVID- 19 pandemic and the patient’s main sources of pandemic information. Methods: In the first wave of the pandemic, during the first lockdown, we conducted an observational study in 8 of the 13 oncology centers in Croatia. The study is based on an anonymous self-report questionnaire designed for this study. It included 422 oncology patients, older than 18 years, who were in active oncology treatment at the time. To study the correlation between the patient’s perspective on communicating with medical staff during a pandemic, the preferred type of communication, and the main sources of pandemic information relative to clinical and sociodemographic data, we used univariate descriptive and bivariate analyzes. Results: In the first lockdown, our respondents communicated with the oncologist and oncology nurses mostly in-person (77.7% vs. 81%), and with the general practitioner mostly virtually, most often by phone (70.6%). Regardless of the pandemic, the majority of oncology patients (76.1%) prefer to communicate with an oncologist in-person, and most expressed satisfaction with communicating with medical staff during a pandemic. The choice of information sources and type of communication depends on the age, gender, income, education, and the seat of the disease of patients. Conclusions: For most of our respondents, in-person visits were the basic way of communicating with oncologists and oncology nurses. On the other hand, a virtual visit was the basic way to communicate with the general practitioner. As patients stated that, regardless of the pandemic, they prefer to communicate with the oncologist in-person, we can conclude that the virtual visit does not meet the needs of cancer patients who are in active oncology treatment. In our study men showed a tendency to communicate in- person, while women, breast cancer patients, younger people, highly educated people, and people of higher income are more prone to virtual visits and are more inclined to use the Internet as a source of information about a pandemic.

communication ; cancer patients ; COVID-19 ; Croatia ; virtual visit

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