BC Cancer and University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC.
Tom Baker Cancer Centre and Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB.
Curr Oncol. 2020 Apr;27(2):71-74. doi: 10.3747/co.27.6643. Epub 2020 May 1.
The covid-19 pandemic has presented unprecedented professional and personal challenges for the oncology community. Under the auspices of the Canadian Association of Medical Oncologists, we conducted an online national survey to better understand the impact of the pandemic on the medical oncology community in Canada.
An English-language multiple-choice survey, including questions about demographics, covid-19 risk, use of personal protective equipment (ppe), personal challenges, and chemotherapy management was distributed to Canadian medical oncologists. The survey was open from 30 March to 4 April 2020, and attracted 159 responses.
More than 70% of medical oncologists expressed moderate-to-extreme concern about personally contracting covid-19 and about family members or patients (or both) contracting covid-19 from them. Despite that high level of concern, considerable variability in the use of ppe in direct cancer care was reported at the time of this survey, with 33% of respondents indicating no routine ppe use at their institutions and 69% indicating uncertainty about access to adequate ppe. Of the respondents, 54% were experiencing feelings of nervousness or anxiety on most days, and 52% were having feelings of depression or hopelessness on at least some days. Concern about aging parents or family and individual wellness represented the top personal challenges identified. The management of cancer patients has been affected, with adoption of telemedicine reported by 82% of respondents, and cessation of clinical trial accrual reported by 54%. The 3 factors deemed most important for treatment decision-making were■ cancer prognosis and anticipated benefit from treatment,■ risk of treatment toxicity during scarce health care access, and■ patient risk of contracting covid-19.
This report describes the results of the first national survey assessing the impact of the covid-19 on Canadian medical oncologists and how they deliver systemic anticancer therapies. We hope that these data will provide a framework to address the challenges identified.
新冠疫情给肿瘤学界带来了前所未有的专业和个人挑战。在加拿大肿瘤医师学会的支持下，我们进行了一项全国范围的在线调查，以更好地了解新冠疫情对加拿大肿瘤医学领域的影响。
我们采用英语多选题形式，向加拿大肿瘤医师发放了一份包括人口统计学、新冠病毒风险、个人防护装备（ppe）使用、个人挑战和化疗管理等问题的调查问卷。该调查于 2020 年 3 月 30 日至 4 月 4 日开放，共收到 159 份回复。
超过 70%的肿瘤医师对自身感染新冠病毒以及病毒在他们与家庭成员或患者之间传播表示出中度至高度担忧。尽管存在高度担忧，但在本次调查时，直接癌症护理中 ppe 的使用存在很大差异，33%的受访者表示其所在机构没有常规使用 ppe，69%的受访者表示不确定是否能够获得足够的 ppe。54%的受访者表示他们在大多数日子里感到紧张或焦虑，52%的受访者在某些日子里感到沮丧或绝望。对年老父母或家庭以及个人健康的担忧是受访者面临的最大个人挑战。癌症患者的管理受到影响，82%的受访者报告采用了远程医疗，54%的受访者报告停止了临床试验入组。被认为对治疗决策最重要的 3 个因素是：癌症预后和治疗预期获益、稀缺医疗资源下治疗毒性风险以及患者感染新冠病毒的风险。
本报告描述了首次评估新冠疫情对加拿大肿瘤医师及其系统抗癌治疗的影响的全国性调查结果。我们希望这些数据将为解决所确定的挑战提供框架。
