Background/Objectives: The low-resource, minority and underserved populations (LRMU) that carry the highest risk of oral cancer (OC) experience many barriers to early detection and treatment, resulting in disproportionately poor outcomes. One major barrier to better outcomes is poor compliance with specialist referral for diagnosis and treatment. The goal of this prospective study was to compare specialist referral compliance for Telehealth vs. in-person visits in LRMU individuals screening positive for increased OC risk.Methods: Forty subjects who had screened positive for oral potentially malignant lesions (OPMLs) were recruited from community clinics. The subjects indicated whether they would prefer an in-person or Telehealth specialist visit. They were offered assistance with all aspects of the visit, and then tracked over 3 months for referral compliance. A novel, very low-cost, simple Telehealth platform located within the community clinic was used for the remote specialist visits.Results: In the Telehealth group, 16/24 subjects attended their first scheduled remote specialist visit; 4/24 attended rescheduled visits within 3 months, and 4/24 did not comply at all. All attendees and specialists were able to complete the remote visits in full. Of the 7/16 subjects who completed in-person visits, 3/16 attended their first scheduled visit, and 4/16 complied within 3 months; 9/16 subjects did not comply at all with specialist referral. Significantly more individuals complied with Telehealth specialist referral at 1 month (p= 0.0006) and after 3 months (p= 0.0154).Conclusions: This novel Telehealth platform may improve compliance with specialist referral in low-resource individuals with OPMLs.
背景/目的：口腔癌高风险的低资源、少数族裔及医疗服务不足人群在早期检测与治疗方面面临多重障碍，导致预后结果显著恶化。影响预后的关键障碍之一是患者对专科转诊的依从性较低。本前瞻性研究旨在比较低资源高风险人群在远程医疗与线下就诊两种模式下对专科转诊的依从性差异。 方法：从社区诊所招募40例口腔潜在恶性病变筛查阳性受试者。受试者自主选择线下或远程专科就诊模式。研究团队为其提供全流程就诊协助，并持续追踪3个月内的转诊依从情况。远程会诊采用设置在社区诊所内、低成本、简易化的新型远程医疗平台。 结果：远程医疗组中，24例受试者中有16例按时完成首次远程专科会诊；4例在3个月内完成改期会诊；4例完全未依从。所有参与者与专科医师均能完整完成远程会诊流程。线下就诊组16例受试者中，仅3例按时完成首次预约就诊；4例在3个月内完成就诊；9例完全未遵循转诊建议。统计分析显示，远程医疗组在1个月（p=0.0006）及3个月（p=0.0154）的专科转诊依从率均显著高于线下就诊组。 结论：新型远程医疗平台可有效提升低资源口腔潜在恶性病变患者的专科转诊依从性。
肿瘤(癌症)患者之家