Videoconferencing Empowers Distance Caregivers to Be More Involved in Care

Distance caregiving is a relatively new phenomenon associated with today's increasingly mobile society. Distance caregivers (DCGs)-those unable to attend a family member's oncology appointments due to distance-often miss out on supportive services offered to the patient and local family and must rely on secondhand information to keep track of the patient's plan of care. The Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, is testing a program to address the needs of this unique demographic by incorporating videoconferencing into patient visits.