Open AccessIntegration of telemedicine for home-based end-of-life carein advanced cancer patients during nationwide lockdown: A case series
Author(s) -
Sudip Biswas,
Shreya Das Adhikari,
Sushma Bhatnagar
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
indian journal of palliative care
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.395
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1998-3735
pISSN - 0973-1075
DOI - 10.4103/ijpc.ijpc_174_20
Subject(s) - medicine , telemedicine , end of life care , covid-19 , service (business) , population , medical emergency , palliative care , nursing , health care , pathology , business , disease , environmental health , marketing , infectious disease (medical specialty) , economics , economic growth
Dignified death is a basic human right that has been widely overlooked in countries like India. During nationwide lockdown, it is extremely challenging to provide quality end-of-life care (EOLC) to all patients with a poor system for dignified death. Telemedicine, whose feasibility for community-based EOLC in rural settings has already been established, was a useful tool for us to overcome these barriers. Adding a widely used smartphone-based application for video calls along with voice calls and text messages made the process more dynamic and convenient. Here, we share our experience with three patients with advanced malignancy in providing EOLC during COVID-19 lockdown. A well-planned study for the utility of this service for a larger cancer patient population from different sociocultural and demographic backgrounds is warranted in the future.