Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Canadian Radiation Oncology Practices

Purpose: To survey Canadian radiation oncology (RO) practice leaders to determine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on radiation services and patient and staff issues in the early phase of the pandemic and one year later.Materials and

Methods: The RO leader (Department or Division Head) from every Canadian cancer center with radiation services was identified. Two surveys were circulated to the identified leader via email from the CARO central office, utilizing the SurveyMonkey? survey tool: the first closed in June 2020 and the second (expanded) survey in June 2021, representing two points in time of the COVID-19 pandemic. Questions included patient volume, service interruptions and delays, and changes in scheduling and virtual/telemedicine utilization. Additional questions were included in the follow-up survey to determine further impacts on disease presentation, volume, vaccination and access, and personnel issues.

Results: Virtual/telemedicine was widely adopted early in the pandemic and continued to be a common technique to communicate/connect with patients. Although many centers were deferring/delaying certain disease sites early in the pandemic, this was not as prevalent one year later. Reduced cancer screening and patients presenting with more advanced disease were concerns documented in the 2021 survey. A high level of concern regarding stress amongst health care professionals was identified.

Conclusions: Canadian RO centers have faced numerous challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic but continued to provide timely and essential cancer care for patients with cancer. Future evaluation of RO center practices will be important to continue to document and address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on issues relevant to RO leaders, patients and staff.

International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics , article en libre accès, 2021

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