Cancer Australia, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
The University of Notre Dame, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
JCO Glob Oncol. 2022 Aug 1;8:e2200043. doi: 10.1200/GO.22.00043.
With successive infection waves and the spread of more infectious variants, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have major impacts on health care. To achieve best outcomes for patients with cancer during a pandemic, efforts to minimize the increased risk of severe pandemic infection must be carefully balanced against unintended adverse impacts of the pandemic on cancer care, with consideration to available health system capacity. Cancer Australia's conceptual framework for cancer care during a pandemic provides a planning resource for health services and policy-makers that can be broadly applied globally and to similar pandemics.
Evidence on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cancer care and health system capacity to June 2021 was reviewed, and the conceptual framework was developed and updated.
Components of health system capacity vary during a pandemic, and capacity relative to pandemic numbers and severity affects resources available for cancer care delivery. The challenges of successive pandemic waves and high numbers of pandemic cases necessitate consideration of changing health system capacity in decision making about cancer care. Cancer Australia's conceptual framework provides guidance on continuation of care across the cancer pathway, in the face of challenges to health systems, while minimizing infection risk for patients with cancer and unintended consequences of delays in screening, diagnosis, and cancer treatment and backlogs because of service interruption.
Evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic supports continuation of cancer care wherever possible during similar pandemics. Cancer Australia's conceptual framework, underpinned by principles for optimal cancer care, informs decision making across the cancer care continuum. It incorporates consideration of changes in health system capacity and capacity for cancer care, in relation to pandemic progression, enabling broad applicability to different global settings.
随着连续的感染浪潮和更具传染性的变异株的传播，COVID-19 大流行继续对医疗保健产生重大影响。为了在大流行期间为癌症患者获得最佳结果，必须仔细权衡努力将大流行感染的风险降至最低与大流行对癌症护理的意外不利影响之间的平衡，同时考虑到可用的卫生系统能力。澳大利亚癌症协会（Cancer Australia）在大流行期间进行癌症护理的概念框架为卫生服务和政策制定者提供了一个规划资源，该框架可在全球范围内广泛应用，并适用于类似的大流行。
对截至 2021 年 6 月 COVID-19 大流行对癌症护理和卫生系统能力的影响的证据进行了审查，并开发和更新了概念框架。
大流行期间卫生系统能力的各个组成部分会发生变化，相对于大流行人数和严重程度的能力会影响癌症护理提供的可用资源。连续的大流行浪潮和大量大流行病例的挑战需要在癌症护理决策中考虑不断变化的卫生系统能力。澳大利亚癌症协会的概念框架为在面临卫生系统挑战的情况下，为癌症患者提供最低限度的感染风险，并避免因服务中断而导致筛查、诊断和癌症治疗延误以及积压的后果，为整个癌症护理途径的护理提供指导。
COVID-19 大流行的证据支持在类似大流行期间尽可能继续进行癌症护理。澳大利亚癌症协会的概念框架以最佳癌症护理原则为基础，为整个癌症护理连续体提供决策依据。它考虑了与大流行进展相关的卫生系统能力和癌症护理能力的变化，从而能够广泛适用于不同的全球环境。
