Helping Patients, One Call at a Time

This May, National Nurses Month, Cure featured MSK’s Kimberly Rosencrance in a column by MSK’s Lead Patient Access Nurse, Ann Culkin.

In her role as a Patient Access Nurse Coordinator, Ms. Rosencrance speaks to patients and families over the phone to help navigate their care, financial concerns, and insurance questions. Her work leaves patients feeling calmer and reassured:

Kim conducts these emotionally loaded conversations with insight, expertise and listening skills to remove obstacles to the best oncology care. Kim reassures every caller that she is ‘really listening,’ often letting her silence do the heavy lifting as the patient shares their story.

We salute Ms. Rosencrance, Ms. Culkin, and all MSK nurses. Your work saves lives every day.

What Patients Think About Telemedicine

A team of MSK researchers recently published a study in the Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network comparing patient satisfaction of pre-COVID in-person visits to satisfaction with telemedicine during the pandemic. Both Chief Healthcare Executive and Healthday reported on the study.

Erin Gillespie, MD, consults with a patient using telemedicine.

Radiation oncologist and study co-author Erin Gillespie, MD, consults with a patient using telemedicine. Photo: Richard DeWitt

The researchers compared patient satisfaction survey answers from MSK radiation oncology patients. They found no substantial differences in satisfaction between the in-person and telemedicine groups.

Patients with video visits reported a better understanding of their treatment plans than those with telephone-only visits. Two out of three patients reported lower costs with telemedicine, and patients who were unmarried or had lowered ability to perform activities of daily living were more likely to prefer telemedicine, likely because it did not require travel.

While the authors call for long-term study, they conclude that the data supports post-pandemic continuation of telemedicine use in radiation oncology.