Evaluation of telemedicine intervention implementation during cancer follow-up: a mixed methods systematic review protocol

Background In recent years, telemedicine use in cancer care has grown rapidly to support long-term cancer survivorship care needs. While remote care offers many benefits such as reduced travel burden for patients and increased clinic capacity for those with complex needs, challenges with adoption remain. Existing systematic reviews on telemedicine focus on barriers and facilitators of implementation. This systematic review will use the RE-AIM framework to evaluate telemedicine in cancer follow-up, aiming to identify components for sustainable implementation. It will also explore nurse-led care delivery and Patient-Reported Outcome Measures in these interventions. Methods Electronic databases will be systematically searched for publications in English that describe telemedicine interventions in cancer follow-up care of at least 1 year. The database searches [MEDLINE (Ovid), CINAHL (EBESCO), Web of Science, Embase (Ovid), PsycINFO (Ovid), Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and IEEE Xplore] will be supplemented by searching the reference lists of relevant full texts. Title and abstract screening will be conducted by two independent reviewers and discrepancies resolved through discussion with senior authors. Data extraction and narrative synthesis will be guided by the five dimensions of the RE-AIM framework: Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance. Discussion This systematic review aims to collate the evidence regarding telemedicine interventions in cancer follow-up care. Findings will contribute to the development of a toolkit for a new, nurse-led model of germ cell cancer follow-up. Systematic review registration PROSPERO CRD42024589524