HOW OFTEN ONCOLOGISTS RECORD THE PATIENTS' COVID-19 INFECTION IN THEIR FINDINGS

ABSTRACT

Introduction: COVID-19 pandemic significantly affects cancer care and the work of oncologists. Also, in cancer patients experiencing COVID-19 infection, oncological care, and therapeutic sequence may be disrupted by the infection itself. In our Inpatient Oncology Department at University Clinical Hospital Mostar, during the pandemic, all patients that are hospitalized in the regular procedure should possess a negative RT-PCR COVID-19 test. Until this pandemic, the epidemiological history for most infectious diseases was not part of the standard information collected for cancer patients by their oncologists. There is also a known fact of under-reporting by physicians.Talking about toxicities, under-reporting of severe toxicities ranged from 13 to 50% even in prospectively randomized trials. During the pandemic, our Hospital Information System (BIS) was adjusted, so if the patient has been RT-PCR COVID-19 tested in our institution, oncologists can see the last test results through the BIS and the Electronic Medical History (EPB), also for all previous test results too. But we were interested in how much oncologists changed their practice, and whether they record information about patients' COVID-19 infection in their findings. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed data from the Hospital Information System (BIS) of the Oncology Department at University Clinical Hospital Mostar. We extracted data on patients who tested positive for COVID-19 in our hospital before visiting the Inpatient Oncology Department, for patients hospitalized in the period from 1st December 2021 to 20 February 2022. Determining the date of the positive RT-PCR COVID-19 test, we reviewed oncological findings after infection in Electronic Medical History (EPB) to detect whether the prevalence of the COVID-19 infection was recorded in the oncological findings of these patients. Results: Within the period from 1st December 2021 until 20 February 2022, we detected 41 patients with previous RT-PCR COVID-19 positive test results, tested at University Clinical Hospital Mostar. We found records of the COVID-19 infection in oncological findings for 25 of detected 41 patients (60.9%). All other patients, 16 of them (39%), did not have records of previous COVID-19 infection or positive results in oncological findings. Conclusion: Even thoughCOVID-19 infection can affect the morbidity and mortality of cancer patients and the therapeutic sequence, and although oncologists in their findings do report this infection, it is still under-reported in high percent.