How’s Your Video Telehealth ‘Webside Manner’?

October 16, 2023 by Deborah Christensen MSN, APRN, AOCNS®

Telehealth offers many benefits for patients with cancer (https://voice.ons.org/news-and-views/what-oncology-nurses-need-to-know-about-telehealth), but it may present oncology nurses with unique challenges to maintaining effective and empathetic communication.  

The techniques for communication during a video telehealth visit (https://doi.org/10.1007/s11882-022-01029-y) involve many of the same strategies as motivational interviewing (https://voice.ons.org/news-and-views/use-motivational-interviewing-to-tailor-your-conversations-to-your-patients-unique)

Telehealth best practices (https://doi.org/10.3928/24748307-20200924-01) suggest that using visual aids during a video telehealth visit and sending patient education resources after can enhance comprehension and continuity of care. 

Case Study 

In this fictional scenario, a team of oncology nurses initiates a pilot project to learn how they can use two-way video telehealth visits to support virtual patient assessment in a new outreach clinic located 100 miles away from their primary supportive care clinic. The nurses staffing the rural clinic have varying levels of nursing and telehealth experience but are lacking a standardized telehealth visit assessment process.  

The nurses begin with training in evidence-based telehealth communication strategies (https://doi.org/10.1089/tmj.2022.0004) that they can use for telephone or video telehealth visits, specifically to: 

Six weeks after they received training and implemented the strategies, the nurses felt better prepared to deliver patient-centered, compassionate care using telehealth communication skills for telephone or video visits. 


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