ABSTRACT
Objective: In the early stages of any epidemic caused by new emerging pathogens healthcare personnel is subject to a great risk. Pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2, proved to be no exception. Many healthcare workers died in the early stages of pandemic due to inadequate precautions and insufficient protection. It is essential to protect and maintain the safety of healthcare personnel for the confinement of pandemic as well as continuity of qualified healthcare services which is already under strain. Educating healthcare personnel on appropiate use of personal protective equipment (PPE) is as essential as procuring them. Material and Methods: A survey is conducted on 4927 healthcare personnel working solely with pediatric patients from 32 different centers. Education given on PPE usage were questioned and analyzed depending on age, sex, occupation and region. Results: Among four thousand nine hundred twelve healthcare personnel from 32 different centers 91% (n= 4457) received education on PPE usage. Of those who received education only 36% was given both theoretical and applied education. Although there was no differences among different occupation groups, receiving education depended on regions. Conclusion: It is essential to educate healthcare personnel appropiately nationwidely for the continuity of qualified healthcare services during the pandemic.
ABSTRACT
Objective: In the early stages of any epidemic caused by new emerging pathogens healthcare personnel is subject to a great risk. Pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2, proved to be no exception. Many healthcare workers died in the early stages of pandemic due to inadequate precautions and insufficient protection. It is essential to protect and maintain the safety of healthcare personnel for the confinement of pandemic as well as continuity of qualified healthcare services which is already under strain. Educating healthcare personnel on appropiate use of personal protective equipment (PPE) is as essential as procuring them. Material and Methods: A survey is conducted on 4927 healthcare personnel working solely with pediatric patients from 32 different centers. Education given on PPE usage were questioned and analyzed depending on age, sex, occupation and region. Results: Among four thousand nine hundred twelve healthcare personnel from 32 different centers 91% (n=4457) received education on PPE usage. Of those who received education only 36% was given both theoretical and applied education. Although there was no differences among different occupation groups, receiving education depended on regions. Conclusion: It is essential to educate healthcare personnel appropiately nationwidely for the continuity of qualified healthcare services during the pandemic.
ABSTRACT
Background: Prioritizing the continuum of care for cancer patients while maximizing patient safety is of paramount importance. However, COVID-19 pandemic could create a collateral damage in all domains of cancer care. Here, we evaluate the early changes in the inpatient and outpatient oncology clinics and discuss how we currently anticipate and mitigate risks for cancer patients at the Hacettepe University Cancer Institute by employing adaptive algorithms. Methods: Patients applying the outpatient clinic and outpatient palliative care (OPC) clinic for the first time and patients admitted to wards in the first 30 days after the first case of COVID-19 in Turkey were evaluated. This data was compared to data from the same time frame in the previous three years. Results: A total of 868 inpatient and 809 outpatient admissions were evaluated in the study with a 114 OPC clinic admissions. The mean number of daily new patient applications to the outpatient clinic (9.87±3.87 vs. 6.43±4.03, p<0.001) and OPC clinic (3.87±1.49 vs. 1.13±1.46, p<0.001) was significantly reduced compared to the previous years. The reduction in new patient numbers was observed for all tumor types with the exception of lung and head and neck cancers. While the number of inpatient admissions was similar for a month frame (228 vs. 213), the median duration of hospitalization was significantly reduced (2 vs. 3 days). The frequency of hospitalizations for chemotherapy was higher than in previous years (p<0.001). By comparison, the rate of hospitalizations for palliative care (P=0.028) or elective interventional procedures (P=0.001) was significantly reduced. Conclusions: In our experience, continuing the patients’ treatment with simple precautions was possible with simple measures. There were significant drops in the numbers of newly diagnosed patients and patients having palliative care services and these problems should be incorporated into the risk mitigation algorithms. Legal entity responsible for the study: The authors. Funding: Has not received any funding. Disclosure: All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.