A qualitative study of the impact of COVID 19, on health care providers for cancer patients: An original research

Abstract

Introduction: In the challenging times of the COVID-19, the care of individuals with the debilitating diseases such as cancers has been an additional burden to the medical team. We aim to find out about the obstacles for the clinical care of the patients in the COVID, the questions frequently asked by cancer patients, and the medical care and support teams' general experience in taking care of cancer patients during the times of the pandemic. Materials and Methods: We conducted a Qualtrics survey that was developed by Cancer and Aging Research Group among 275 health care providers to cancer patients during. There were twenty questions in the survey. Of these 20, three open-ended questions were included that inquired about the barriers to the clinical care of cancer patients during COVID-19; the questions asked to the health care team by cancer patients or the attendants; health care teams general experience in the situations of the COVID-19. Two different reviewers performed the quality analysis for the open-ended questions after they were assigned a code. SPSS ver-23 was used for the descriptive statistics. Results: Medical services organizational difficulties and addressing necessities and support were generally reported. Hindrances to the medical health teams included the included administrative difficulties, access of the patient to the support and basic resources, uncertainties for patients' psychological and physical well-being, and teleconsultation challenges. The most common concern of the patients was the safety and the need for the treatment. Medical health care teams were seen to worry for the mental and the physical health of cancer patient. There was also reported concern for the medical team's own safety, obstruction in multi-level establishments; also the health team was seen feeling positive leadership and communications. Conclusion: The medical health provider teams felt a need for thorough support at the organizational level for cancer patients. Medical teams were expected to comprehend the short-term and long-term impact of the COVID-19 on cancer patients. It was accepted that there has been an increased workload and mental stress among the providers. Appreciating the experiences of the medical teams during the pandemic may help in the future guidance in the care of cancer patients.

Keywords

• cancer
• covid-19
• impact on healthcare team