The Medical Care Continuity (MCC) project. A pilot study of video-assisted home care within the eTEN European Community program. The Italian experience.
OBJECTIVE
This study aimed to use an integrated system (Medical Care Continuity (MCC) system) consisting of computer, video telephone, and a high-definition camera to monitor at home chemotherapy side effects in cancer outpatients.


METHODS
The system allowed 24 h/day video consultation with an intermediate medical call center with possible connection to a specialized hospital if necessary. All patients were provided with internationally validated and project-oriented questionnaires exploring patients' health status and opinions on usefulness and complexity of study devices. The content of each call was recorded on a computer database. An approximate estimate of avoided hospital admissions was calculated.


RESULTS
Median duration of experimentation and frequency of patient/doctor contacts were 2.1 months and 4.2 contact per week, respectively. Overall, a 98% positive opinions on the experimental system was reported at the end of the study by all participants, with a 21% conversion rate with respect to the opinions gathered at study entry. Changes in patient management after a medical call were made in 32% of cases. It was calculated that approximately 2.2 per month unnecessary hospital admissions were avoided.


CONCLUSIONS
The MCC system was well managed by both patients and caregivers. These results show that it has the potential to improve medical assistance by virtue of a constant access to medical advice and reduce unnecessary hospital admissions.
Formica
V
V
Medical Oncology Unit, Internal Medicine Department, Tor Vergata Clinical Center, University of Rome, Viale Oxford, 81, Rome 00133, Italy.
Fossile
E
E
Pellegrino
R
R
Fatale
M
M
Mari
M
M
Rabuffetti
M
M
Benedetto
F R
FR
Visconti
G
G
Bollero
E
E
Roselli
M
M
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003201:Computers; D003266:Continuity of Patient Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D016903:Drug Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006699:Home Care Services; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010865:Pilot Projects; D019114:Remote Consultation / Q000379:methods*; D049269:Videoconferencing
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents