A Canadian Response to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic: Is There a Silver Lining for Radiation Oncology Patients?
Image credit: Haley PatrickAbstract
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had an unprecedented effect on the global health care community. With 6 million cases and growing, we and our colleagues in other disciplines have fought to source crucial protective equipment, provide care despite service disruptions, and adopt substantial changes in practice to continue treating our patients safely. We in the radiation medicine community face particularly challenging circumstances: our patients require radiation treatment to assure their survival but are also at elevated risk for serious COVID-19 morbidities owing to their immunocompromised status from both disease and treatment. Despite this, our community has risen to the occasion, banding together to share insights on best practices and rapidly adjusting our workflows to maximize staff and patient safety in ways we have never mobilized before and using techniques and technology not previously fully taken advantage of. In some regards, COVID-19 may in fact be a stimulus for innovation in radiation oncology. In our own experience at the Canadian epicenter, COVID-19 has been a catalyst for change, accelerating the pace at which we can identify and adopt new tools to improve patient care far beyond what was possible prepandemic.
Haley M. Patrick
PhD Student
Tarek Hijal
Associate Professor, Co-founder of the Opal Health Informatics Group
