Technology-mediated communication with patients is a challenge for oncologists in the digitaland pandemic era and the winner is Whats App!

Introduction: Since December 2019, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread to every country, taking onpandemic proportions in few months Physicians were asked to redefine ordinary hospital organization, reprogramming clinically differentiable activities Materials and Methods: During the COVID pandemic our Institution was supported by a call center (CC, namedTOPS s r l ) to make a triage for cancer patients (pts) scheduled for follow-up in our outpatient clinics: C1 (dedicatedto female tumors), C2 (for gastrointestinal, urogenital, and thoracic tumors) and D1 (for tumors in over 5 years'follow-up) We report preliminary data referred to the period 7th April-24th May, 2020 The activity was divided intotwo phases (F): April (F1) and May (F2) In F2 pts were interviewed about their preferred visit modality Physicalexamination was not postponed in case of clinical needs and first visits Moreover, CC asked about programmedradiologic examinations and collected patients' feedback about the service Results: A total of 587 pts have been contacted: 341 during F1 and 246 in F2 317/341 (93%) of the contacts in F1were successful A gender-stratified analysis showed a majority of patients were female (72 4%) The CC was ableto get in touch with 42 8% C1 pts, 34 6% C2 pts, and 22 6% D1 pts During F2 246 pts (96 5%) of 255 planned wereefficiently contacted;female maintained the predominance (74 5%) 170 pts (69 1%) were scheduled in C1, 53 pts(21 5%) in C2, and 23 pts (9 4%) in D1 During F2, among the options provided 97 pts (39 4%) selected the phonecall, 142 pts (57 7%) decided for video chat (whatsapp), and 2 (0 8%) for video conference with a dedicated platform(google meet) Only 5 pts (2 1%) expressed their intention to come to the hospital for examination In 69 1% ofcases (170 pts) the programmed radiologic examinations were confirmed during the pandemic According to somefavorable reports, the service was helpful in preserving continuum of care and preventing cancer pts from being leftaside in the emergency Conclusions: This study show that cancer patients do appreciate technology-mediated follow-up visits, mainlyincluding video chat (whatsapp), and therefore we should take this into consideration Furthermore, a dedicated CCmay be helpful to organize follow-up activities during COVID-19 and to strengthen the doctor-patient relationship insuch a critical moment