1742P Outcomes of the reorganisation of a medical oncology department during the COVID-19 pandemic: Real-word experience

Abstract

Background: The recent COVID-19 outbreak in Italy required timely adoption of efficient triage procedures (TPs) with the aim to minimize the risk of infection spreading in the hospitals. We developed a written questionnaire (items explored: fever, respiratory symptoms, previous contacts or personal positivity for COVID-19) together with body temperature (BT) measurement, to intercept patients (pts) with suspect of COVID-19 infection.Methods: We conducted a monocentric observational study of a consecutive series of outpatients with diagnosis of solid tumor, accessing the Day Unit of Oncology Department at Udine Academic Cancer Center (Northern Italy) from 30 March 2020 to 30 April 2020. In this abstract we present the preliminary results of the TPs performed until 10 April 2020.Results: 1054 TPs were performed out of 586 pts, with a median of 2 TPs per pt. Median age was 64.9 years, males were 35.4%. Overall, 82.5% of TPs were made because of access for therapy, 10.7% for programmed procedures, radiological exams or nononcological consultations, 1.2% for unplanned presentation (e.g. urgencies). The stage of neoplasm was early in 30.7% and advanced in 69.3% of pts. TPs were made in pts receiving chemotherapy (58.2%), immunotherapy (10.8%), targeted therapy (18.9%), other therapies (5.2%) and in pts without active oncological therapy (6.9%). The questionnaires resulted positive in 5.5% of cases; 2.9% were positive for fever, 2.9% for respiratory symptoms, 0.1% for previous contact with a case of COVID-19. Concomitant presence of 2 or more items was observed in 0.5% of questionnaires. Of note, 6 TPs required medical evaluation despite a negative questionnaire and were considered to be clinically suspect. BT37 C was observed in 7 TPs. Overall, the oncologic program was postponed in 0.9% of the TPs, while in 0.5% a test for SARS-CoV-2 was performed for clinical suspect: no one resulted positive. At multivariate analysis, factors associated with positive triage were diagnosis of thoracic cancer (OR 2.06; 95%CI 1.02-4.12; p¼0.04) and prior test for SARS-CoV-2 (OR 2.81; 95%CI 1.46-5.41; p¼0.001).

Chronic Management during Pandemic COVID-19 from the Perspective Primary Health Care Practitioners

“…Management should have a program with components in the form of written workplace-specific procedures, inspection, selection of appropriate respirators, training, appropriate testing, cleaning, maintenance, and storage, program evaluation, and medical evaluation (Duarte et al, 2020). Of course, this is expected to provide good protection for the success of reducing the risk of contracting COVID-19 when carrying out treatment (Nichetti et al, 2020).…”

“…A proactive approach to the COVID-19 emergency that occurs includes the use of personal protective equipment, patients can access the use of the telemedicine system without the need to carry out on-site examinations, adjust treatment delivery, assess patients regularly, examine patients before entering the ward, restrict access systems for visitors and health workers (Duarte et al, 2020). Furthermore, using telemedicine can help plan health care, and monitor and manage personal conditions.…”