Survey on the effectiveness of telephone-based communication with relatives of hospitalized cancer patients in COVID-19 era in Italy

OBJECTIVE: No-visitor policies adopted to prevent coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) spread in hospital wards have deeply impacted communication with patients and their relatives. Whereas in pre-COVID-19 era family-clinician meetings were held in person, during the pandemic interactions often took place over the phone, frequently causing feelings of uncertainty and distress to the close ones at home. The goal of this study was to assess and improve the effectiveness of structured telephone-based communication with hospitalized onco-hematological patients’ relatives in COVID-19 era. METHODS: After no-visitor policy was adopted in the Onco-Hematological Unit of Modena, inpatients’ relatives were contacted daily for clinical updates. After discharge, a telephone satisfaction survey was administered to all contact people of patients consecutive admitted between December 2020 and January 2021 (n = 97). Mean score of response and potential statistically significative differences depending on respondents’ characteristics were assessed. RESULTS: Most relatives were satisfied with the communication received with a mean total score of 4.69 on a 5-point Likert scale (standard deviation: 0.60). Results showed high satisfaction rate with both the informative (mean ± SD: 4.66 ± 0.64) and emotional (mean ± SD: 4.66 ± 0.58) content, with no significant difference depending on respondents’ demographic characteristics (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: A structured telephone-based communication may be a reasonable substitute for face-to-face meetings; especially if regular in time, conducted by the same doctor and integrated with video calls. Our findings might assist health workers in implementing measures to minimize the psychological effects of no-visitor policies during hospitalization. Clinical updates delivery through structured phone calls and video calls could become an opportunity also in post-COVID era.