Cancer Care Services, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Herston, Queensland, Australia
School of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Saint Lucia, Queensland, Australia.
BMJ Open. 2021 May 6;11(5):e044655. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-044655.
Sars-CoV-2 is a novel coronavirus responsible for COVID-19 officially declared pandemic in March 2020. Health systems worldwide responded with swift changes to increase workflow capacity while protecting the vulnerable, including those with cancer. This led to unprecedented and rapid restructuring of health service provision. Published data from the 2003 SARS pandemic focuses on medical and nursing staff, overlooking other departmental employees such as administration officers or food service workers. Our protocol aims to document directives and adjustments communicated to staff in two cancer care departments and correlate this with measures of distress and perceived preparedness across the spectrum of all staff involved in cancer care.
We use a semiqualitative approach comprising weekly diarising of events and simultaneous staff surveys. Principal investigators will document changes at a metropolitan quaternary cancer centre and a regional cancer centre. Communications, directives and changes will be diarised in real time in four executional domains. Simultaneously, prospective voluntary self-administered online surveys will be conducted at regular intervals by staff. The survey assesses the perceived institutional preparedness and personal well-being, with a combination of Likert scaled and open response questions. A semiquantitative self-assessment of distress adapted from National Comprehensive Cancer Network distress thermometer is incorporated. Additionally, open-text personal reflections on themes including difficult decisions will be invited. Survey participants will be drawn from various work areas of the cancer care departments: administrative staff, health professionals, for example, allied health, ancillary workers, nursing and medical.
The study has been reviewed and approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee (LNR/2020/QRBW/62982). Published literature on domains of distress neglects categories of healthcare worker who form an essential part of the care delivery team. Our study hopes to gather insights about psychosocial impact and adjustment which could direct responses in future emergencies.
Sars-CoV-2 是一种新型冠状病毒，它导致的 COVID-19 于 2020 年 3 月被正式宣布为大流行。全球卫生系统迅速做出反应，增加了工作流程的容量，同时保护弱势群体，包括癌症患者。这导致了医疗服务提供的前所未有的快速重组。来自 2003 年 SARS 大流行的已发表数据主要关注医疗和护理人员，而忽略了其他部门的员工，如行政人员或餐饮服务人员。我们的方案旨在记录向两个癌症护理部门的员工传达的指令和调整，并将其与涉及癌症护理的所有员工的痛苦和感知准备程度的措施相关联。
我们使用半定性方法，包括每周记录事件和同时进行员工调查。主要研究者将记录在一个大都市四级癌症中心和一个区域癌症中心的变化。在四个执行领域，将实时记录沟通、指令和变化。同时，将定期对员工进行前瞻性自愿在线调查。该调查评估机构准备情况和个人幸福感，包括李克特量表和开放式回答问题。采用国家综合癌症网络痛苦温度计的半定量自我评估来评估痛苦。此外，还将邀请对包括困难决策在内的主题的个人反思。调查参与者将来自癌症护理部门的各个工作领域：行政人员、医疗专业人员，例如，辅助卫生人员、护理人员和医生。
该研究已由人类研究伦理委员会（LNR/2020/QRBW/62982）审查和批准。已发表的关于痛苦领域的文献忽略了构成护理提供团队不可或缺的一部分的医疗保健工作者类别。我们的研究希望收集关于心理社会影响和调整的见解，这些见解可能会指导未来紧急情况下的应对措施。
