Patient satisfaction in Home care services through e-Palliative Care -An experience of tertiary cancer centre from Kerala

OBJECTIVES: e-palliative care (PC) is an evolving concept wherein technological interface is used to deliver PC to the patients with advanced cancer at their doorstep. This study aims to find out the level of satisfaction of patients receiving e-palliative homecare (e-PHC) service from a tertiary Cancer Center using the validated e-Palliative Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire –Malayalam (PSQM). MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this prospective study, patients/caregivers on home care were given the e - Palliative PSQM by the homecare nurse after the patient had consulted the doctor through e-PHC service. The questionnaire had 15 statements with response graded using Likert scale. Descriptive analysis was performed to compute the distribution of observed responses to obtain the level of satisfaction among patients or caregivers receiving e-PHC service. RESULTS: This study was done among 120 homecare patients whose median age was 69 (62-79) with almost equal prevalence of both genders. Stage 4 malignancy was seen in 107 (89.2%) patients with the commonest being gastrointestinal malignancy (N=34, 28.3%) The mean score of response for General satisfaction, Technical quality, Communication, Financial aspect, Time spent with doctor and Accessibility and convenience were observed as 4.52, 3.92, 4.48, 4.55, 4.52 and 4.49 respectively. The overall satisfaction was found to be 4.39. CONCLUSION: The overall satisfaction of patients receiving e-PHC service from our Institution is seen to be high. e- palliative care is a feasible option for providing excellent PC in developing countries with limited resources and financial constraints.