%0 Journal Article %@ 2369-1999 %I JMIR Publications %V 6 %N 2 %P e24222 %T Virtual Cancer Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond: A Call for Evaluation %A Levine,Oren Hannun %A McGillion,Michael %A Levine,Mark %+ Department of Oncology, McMaster University, Room 104, G Wing, 711 Concession Street, Hamilton, ON, L8V 1C3, Canada, 1 905 527 2299 ext 42176, mlevine@mcmaster.ca %K care %K patient-physician relationship %K patient-centered care %K oncology care delivery %K virtual visits %K telehealth %K virtual care %K cancer %K oncology %K evaluation %K COVID-19 %D 2020 %7 24.11.2020 %9 Viewpoint %J JMIR Cancer %G English %X The interplay of virtual care and cancer care in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic is unique and unprecedented. Patients with cancer are at increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection and have worse outcomes than patients with COVID-19 who do not have cancer. Virtual care has been introduced quickly and extemporaneously in cancer treatment centers worldwide to maintain COVID-19–free zones. The outbreak of COVID-19 in a cancer center could have devastating consequences. The virtual care intervention that was first used in our cancer center, as well as many others, was a landline telephone in an office or clinic that connected a clinician with a patient. There is a lack of virtual care evaluation from the perspectives of patients and oncology health care providers. A number of factors for assessing oncology care delivered through a virtual care intervention have been described, including patient rapport, frailty, delicate conversations, team-based care, resident education, patient safety, technical effectiveness, privacy, operational effectiveness, and resource utilization. These factors are organized according to the National Quality Forum framework for the assessment of telehealth in oncology. This includes the following 4 domains of assessing outcomes: experience, access to care, effectiveness, and financial impact or cost. In terms of virtual care and oncology, the pandemic has opened the door to change. The lessons learned during the initial period of the pandemic have given rise to opportunities for the evolution of long-term virtual care. The opportunity to evaluate and improve virtual care should be seized upon. %M 33180741 %R 10.2196/24222 %U http://cancer.jmir.org/2020/2/e24222/ %U https://doi.org/10.2196/24222 %U http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33180741 %0 Journal Article %@ 2369-1999 %I JMIR Publications %V 6 %N 2 %P e20288 %T Telehealth and Palliative Care for Patients With Cancer: Implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic %A Grewal,Udhayvir Singh %A Terauchi,Stephanie %A Beg,Muhammad Shaalan %+ Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Blvd, Dallas, TX, , United States, 1 5136416314, muhammad.beg@utsouthwestern.edu %K COVID-19 %K telehealth %K palliative care %K telepalliative care %K patients with cancer %K telemedicine %D 2020 %7 24.11.2020 %9 Viewpoint %J JMIR Cancer %G English %X It has been reported that the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection is higher in patients with cancer than in the general population and that patients with cancer are at an increased risk of developing severe life-threatening complications from COVID-19. Increased transmission and poor outcomes noted in emerging data on patients with cancer and COVID-19 call for aggressive isolation and minimization of nosocomial exposure. Palliative care and oncology providers are posed with unique challenges due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Telepalliative care is the use of telehealth services for remotely delivering palliative care to patients through videoconferencing, telephonic communication, or remote symptom monitoring. It offers great promise in addressing the palliative and supportive care needs of patients with advanced cancer during the ongoing pandemic. We discuss the case of a 75-year-old woman who was initiated on second-line chemotherapy, to highlight how innovations in technology and telehealth-based interventions can be used to address patients’ palliative and supportive care needs in the ongoing epidemic. %M 33049695 %R 10.2196/20288 %U http://cancer.jmir.org/2020/2/e20288/ %U https://doi.org/10.2196/20288 %U http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33049695 %0 Journal Article %@ 2369-1999 %I JMIR Publications %V 5 %N 1 %P e12317 %T Designing and Testing Apps to Support Patients With Cancer: Looking to Behavioral Science to Lead the Way %A Hamel,Lauren M %A Thompson,Hayley S %A Albrecht,Terrance L %A Harper,Felicity WK %+ Population Studies and Disparities Research Program, Department of Oncology, Wayne State University, 4100 John R St, Detroit, MI, 48201, United States, 1 5868633884, hamell@karmanos.org %K behavioral science %K cancer %K mobile apps %K evidence-based practice %K smartphone %K mHealth %D 2019 %7 22.4.2019 %9 Viewpoint %J JMIR Cancer %G English %X Background: Behavioral science has a long and strong tradition of rigorous experimental and applied methodologies, which have produced several influential and far-reaching theoretical frameworks and have guided countless inquiries of human behavior in various contexts. In cancer care, behavioral scientists have established a firm foundation of research focused on understanding the experience of cancer and using that understanding to design and implement theory- and evidenced-based interventions to help patients cope with the cancer experience. Given the rich behavioral research base in oncology, behavioral scientists are ideally positioned to lead the integration of evidence-based science on behavior and behavior change into the development of smartphone apps supporting patients with cancer. Smartphone apps are being disseminated to patients with cancer with claims of being able to help them negotiate areas of vulnerability in their cancer experience. However, the vast majority of these apps are developed without the rigor and expertise of behavioral scientists. Objective: In this article, we have illustrated the importance of behavioral science leading the development and evaluation of apps to support patients with cancer by providing an illustrative scientific process that our team of behavioral scientists, patient stakeholders, medical oncologists, and software developers used to empirically design and evaluate 2 patient-focused apps: the Discussion of Cost App (DISCO App) and MyPatientPal. Methods: Using a focused literature review and a descriptive roadmap of our team’s process for designing and evaluating patient-focused behavioral apps for patients with cancer, we have demonstrated how behavioral scientists are integral to the development of empirically sound apps to help support patients with cancer. Specifically, we have illustrated the process by which our multidisciplinary team combined the established user-centered design principles and behavioral science theory and scientific rigor to design and evaluate 2 patient-focused apps. Results: On the basis of initial acceptability and feasibility testing among patients and providers, our team has demonstrated how critical behavioral science is for designing and evaluating app-based interventions for patients with cancer. Conclusions: Behavioral science can and should be coupled with user-centered design principles to provide theoretical guidance and the rigor of the scientific method, thereby adding the much-needed and critical evidence for these types of app-based interventions for patients with cancer. %M 31066691 %R 10.2196/12317 %U http://cancer.jmir.org/2019/1/e12317/ %U https://doi.org/10.2196/12317 %U http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31066691