1613P What are the barriers to routine clinical use of teleconsultation in oncology? A retrospective study on patient’s and their physician’s satisfaction with 603 video teleconsultations

Background: Although video teleconsultations (TCs) have shown benefits for clinical follow up in oncology, its development appears very delayed in routine practice. The COVID pandemic has required French physicians to use them, mostly during the first lockdown period. This study aims to identify barriers to TCs development by assessing patient’s and physician’s satisfaction regarding this experience. Methods: Patients who took part in at least one TC during the 7 weeks of strict confinement (from March 7 to May 11, 2020) were asked via email to complete a questionnaire of close-ended questions (5 points Likert scale) with the possibility of additional comments. Their answers were anonymized and gathered via Sphinx, a secured statistical analysis software. A second questionnaire was sent to each physician who conducted these TCs. We then aimed to analyze each patient and physician characteristics and comments, according to their degree of overall satisfaction. Results: 531 patients and 35 physicians (oncologists, surgeons, anesthetists, radiotherapists) used TCs;307 patients (57.8%) and 31(88.5%) physicians completed the survey. Patient’s average age was 59. 140 (46.7%) of them lived in a rural area and 193 (64.3%) lived more than one hour away from their cancer center;66.9% of them were overall satisfied. Unsatisfied patients (12.1%) had the same characteristics as the overall population. Apart from the lack of clinical examination, the main complaints of this group of patients were about altered communication with their physician (44.4% vs 22%), troubles with technical set up (38.9% vs 13.5%) leading to 50% of consultations by phone. Average satisfaction rate among physician was 80.7%. They mainly reported altered relationship with their patient, mostly during tough announcements. Preferred indications were surveillance consultation and treatment monitoring. Conclusions: This study shows high rate of overall satisfaction, from both patients and physicians. TCs seem to provide a suitable alternative to standard in-person consultations, therefore improvements are needed to optimize this technique. Legal entity responsible for the study: Institut Bergonie. Funding: Has not received any funding. Disclosure: All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.