The Impact of COVID-19 on Cancer Centers in NJ

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on the whole entire area of cancer care including the delay of many important stages such as diagnosis, treatment, and the advancement of clinical trials. A lot of resources were diverted to help aid the COVID-19 pandemic, financially and time-wise. On top of this massive shift of resources, healthcare organizations had to rapidly reorganize to keep cancer care operating in light of the pandemic to ensure minimal exposure to patients. Doctors and nurses of cancer centers in NJ detailed the different implications on cancer care during the past two years.

The diversion of healthcare staff and researchers to address the pandemic resulting in long delays in diagnosis processes. Asymptomatic patients in many countries struggled to find opportunities for cancer screenings and saw cancer screening programs become suspended with no idea of return. In April of 2020, Ireland and England announced to suspend screening until further notice as well as the United States, who deemed it as a low priority service amidst the pandemic. Usually, cancer screenings occur through referrals of patients with cancer by general physicians. Referrals in some countries have seen as high as a 70% drop in referrals. Only 20% of cancer diagnoses occur in the emergency setting where the other 80% is due to these screenings. The postponement of these screenings is very dangerous for public health.

In the situations where the possibility of cancer has risen, many informative procedures were not allowed to be conducted due to COVID-19, especially upper procedures surrounding the lungs and heart. Many forms of endoscopy were not permitted due to the risk of COVID-19 transmission. Colonoscopies were also canceled due to the effect that COVID-19 has on bowel movements and its presence in fecal matter.

Non-invasive procedures have been a lot more popular due to the low risk of infection and avoidance of using heavy-duty cleaning equipment. On top of this, many cancer centers are labeling all equipment as COVID-19 exposed or not to make sure no single piece of equipment is used frequently throughout patients’ rooms. Equipment contamination and shortages have affected cancer centers heavily with important devices such as ventilators being sent out for COVID-19 patients. The contamination and shortages have affected the turnaround times and the way surgeries have to be performed on cancer patients. The delay of surgeries can be detrimental to beating cancer due to the disease’s ability to progress further or emergency admission from complications.

Cancer centers have quickly reorganized to keep surgical areas for cancer patients completely separate from general care areas or other specialties depending on where the cancer center is located. In certain cases, whole cancer centers had to break away from their area due to being housed with acute-care practices that deal with the general public a lot more. The logging of visitors, staff testing, vaccinations, and much more have created a large backup for cancer surgeries.    


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