Background: Since December 2019, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread to every Country taking on pandemic proportions in few months Physicians were asked to redefine ordinary Hospital organization reprogramming clinically differentiable activities Materials and Methods: During COVID pandemia our Institution was supported by a call-center (CC, named TOPS s r l ) to make a triage for cancer patients (pts) scheduled for follow up in our outpatient clinics: C1 (dedicated to female tumors), C2 (for gastrointestinal, urogenital and thoracic tumors) and D1 (for tumors in over 5 years follow up) We report preliminary data referred to the period 7th April-24th May 2020 The activity was divided into two phases (F): April (F1) and May (F2) In F2 pts were interviewed about their preferred visit modality Physical examination was not postpone in case of clinical needs and first visits Moreover, CC asked about programmed radiological examinations and collected patient's feedbacks about the service Results: A total of 587 pts have been contacted: 341 during F1, and 246 in F2 317/341 (93%) of the contacts in F1 were successful A gender-stratified analysis showed a majority of female (72 4%) The CC was able to get in touch with 42 8% C1 pts, 34 6% C2 pts and 22 6% D1 pts During F2 246 pts (96 5%) of 255 planned were efficiently contacted;female maintained the predominance (74 5%) 170 pts (69 1%) were scheduled in C1, 53 pts (21 5%) in C2 and 23 pts (9 4%) in D1 During F2, among the options provided 97 pts (39 4%) selected the phone call, 142 pts (57 7%) decided for video chat (whatsapp) and 2 (0 8%) for video conference with a dedicated platform (google meet) Only 5 pts (2 1%) expressed their intention to come to the Hospital for examination In 69 1% of cases (170 pts) the programmed radiological examinations were confirmed during the pandemic According to some favorable reports, the service was helpful in preserving continuum of care and preventing cancer pts of being left aside in the emergence Conclusions: This study show that cancer patients do appreciate technology-mediated follow up visits mainly including video chat (whatsapp) and therefore we should take this into consideration Furthermore, a dedicated CC may be helpful to organize follow-up activities during COVID-19 and to strengthen doctor-patient relationship in such a critical moment
Technology-mediated communication with patients is a challenge for oncologists in the digital and pandemic era. And the winner is whatsapp!