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Background: SARS-CoV-2-induced severe acute respiratory syndrome is associated with high mortality in the general population;however, the data on chronic haemodialysis (HD) patients are currently scarce.
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Introduction: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak has been declared a pandemic unprecedented. Italy has been one of the first and heavily affected countries. The hematologic toxicity due to chemotherapy is the main reason why cancer patients are considered fragile patients, due to the high risk of infection. This led to important restrictions and recommendations during first and even more during second peak of COVID-19 pandemic with the prohibition of caregivers admission. In the above scenario, our study has the aim of evaluating the impact of COVID19 pandemic in caregiving in oncology. Materials and Methods: Between 02/09 and 04/02 2021 our team conducted a cross-sectional study by submitting a survey to caregivers of patients with solid cancer undergoing active treatments in Oncologic Departments of Marche region. An anonymous, paper questionnaire regarding perception of patient safety and continuity of care was submitted. Results: A total of 112 caregivers responded to our survey. The majority of them were between 46 and 65 years old (46.4%), female (57%), declared to take care of the patient for 0-2 hours/day (36.6%) and declared to have increased assistance time during the pandemic (59.3%). Half of the participants declared there were no economic difficulties in assistance of their relatives and more than half (55.4 %, n=62) did not report major change in this setting. Almost all caregivers (99.1%) declared that the Oncology Departments has complied with the safety recommendations to limit virus spread. Although 86 (76.8%) of them confirmed that access has been restricted due to pandemic, only 10 caregivers (8.9%) perceived these precautions too restrictive, while 107 ( 95.5%) of the all sample defined them effective. Despite these constraints, approximately all respondents declared that they had the chance to dialogue with health care providers and had the possibility to access the oncologic department if necessary (respectively 106 subjects, 94.6% and 101, 90.1%). Moreover, more than half of caregivers (n=57, 50.9%) perceived that the quality of care has not been affected by the pandemic. Conclusions: Despite the COVID-19 pandemic has overwhelmed the Italian National Health System, maybe more than in other countries, Oncology Departments was considered worthy of the emergency care in terms of safety and care management by caregivers. Caregivers perceived and believed in an adequate quality of care for their relatives without economic implications.
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Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak has been declared global pandemic and Italy is one of the first and heavily affected countries. Cancer patients are a population at higher risk from COVID-19 both for intrinsic fragility bound to their underlying disease and oncologic treatment delay. Aim of our survey was to investigate how cancer patients perceived their health condition, their clinical management and information communication by their medical oncologists during the pandemic. Methods: Between 15th April and 1st May 2020 a survey was submitted to cancer patients under treatment at hospitals of Marche Region which had been invested by the pandemic. It consisted of questions regarding the perception of personal safety, continuity of cancer care and information quality provided by the Oncology Department and individual psychological distress. Results: A total of 661 patients participated in the survey;60.2% was female and 40.4% was aged between 46 and 65. Almost all of the attendees (97.7%) stated that the Oncologic Department complied with the appropriate safety standards and 78% was reassured about their concerns during the medical interview, but 41% was worried of being at higher risk of infection upon entry into the Oncology Department and 53.3% felt being at greater risk of infection because of chemotherapy treatment in general. The majority of the participants (62.2%) felt that postponing cancer treatment could reduce its efficacy, however 80% declared they did not feel abandoned at the time of treatment delay. 79.4% of the attendees felt more worried for their underlying disease in this emergency situation, but the mood worsened only for 34.2% of the participants. Conclusions: Our survey reveals that Oncology Departments have been considered worthy of the emergency in terms of safety standards and care management by cancer patients. However, the majority of attendees perceived the mutual negative influence between their underlying oncologic disease and risk of Sars-CoV-2 infection and manifested concerns about their health condition highlighting the need for special measures to ensure safe continuity of care.
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Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak has been declared a global pandemic, and Italyis one of the first and most heavily affected countries. Cancer patients are a population at higher risk from COVID-19 both for intrinsic fragility bound to their underlying disease and oncologic treatment delay. The aim of our survey was to investigate how cancer patients perceived their health condition, their clinical management, and informationcommunication by their medical oncologists during the pandemic. Methods: Between 15th April and 1st May, 2020, a survey was submitted to cancer patients under treatment athospitals of Marche Region that had been invested by the pandemic. It consisted of questions regarding theperception of personal safety, continuity of cancer care, and information quality provided by the OncologyDepartment and individual psychological distress. Results: A total of 661 patients participated in the survey;60.2% were female and 40.4% were aged between 46and 65. Almost all of the attendees (97.7%) stated that the Oncologic Department complied with the appropriatesafety standards, and 78% were reassured about their concerns during the medical interview, but 41% were worriedof being at higher risk of infection upon entry into the Oncology Department and 53.3% felt at greater risk of infectionbecause of chemotherapy treatment in general. The majority of the participants (62.2%) felt that postponing cancertreatment could reduce its efficacy;however, 80% declared they did not feel abandoned at the time of treatmentdelay. 79.4% of the attendees felt more worried for their underlying disease in this emergency situation, but themood worsened for only 34.2% of the participants. Conclusions: Our survey reveals that Oncology Departments have been considered worthy of the emergency interms of safety standards and care management by cancer patients. However, the majority of attendees perceivedthe mutual negative influence between their underlying oncologic disease and risk of Sars-CoV-2 infection andmanifested concerns about their health condition, highlighting the need for special measures to ensure safecontinuity of care.
ABSTRACT
Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak has been declared global pandemic and Italy is one of the first and heavily affected countries. Cancer patients are a population at higher risk from COVID-19 both for intrinsic fragility bound to their underlying disease and oncologic treatment delay. Aim of our survey was to investigate how cancer patients perceived their health condition, their clinical management and information communication by their medical oncologists during the pandemic. Methods: Between 15th April and 1st May 2020 a survey was submitted to cancer patients under treatment at hospitals of Marche Region which had been invested by the pandemic. It consisted of questions regarding the perception of personal safety, continuity of cancer care and information quality provided by the Oncology Department and individual psychological distress. Results: A total of 661 patients participated in the survey;60.2% was female and 40.4% was aged between 46 and 65. Almost all of the attendees (97.7%) stated that the Oncologic Department complied with the appropriate safety standards and 78% was reassured about their concerns during the medical interview, but 41% was worried of being at higher risk of infection upon entry into the Oncology Department and 53.3% felt being at greater risk of infection because of chemotherapy treatment in general. The majority of the participants (62.2%) felt that postponing cancer treatment could reduce its efficacy, however 80% declared they did not feel abandoned at the time of treatment delay. 79.4% of the attendees felt more worried for their underlying disease in this emergency situation, but the mood worsened only for 34.2% of the participants. Conclusions: Our survey reveals that Oncology Departments have been considered worthy of the emergency in terms of safety standards and care management by cancer patients. However, the majority of attendees perceived the mutual negative influence between their underlying oncologic disease and risk of Sars-CoV-2 infection and manifested concerns about their health condition highlighting the need for special measures to ensure safe continuity of care. Legal entity responsible for the study: Università Politecnica delle Marche- AOU Ospedali Riuniti di Ancona. Funding: Has not received any funding. Disclosure: All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.