Supportive care for oral cancer survivors in COVID‐19 lockdown

Abstract

Objective Availability and accessibility to routine health care services for cancer patients were a cause of concern during the COVID‐19 pandemic, which induced stringent enforcement of lockdown and social distancing in Sri Lanka. Oral cancer patients who have undergone surgery recently encountered problems such as pain, difficulty in swallowing. However, accessing routine treatment and obtaining medication emerged as the most pressing concerns among them. Therefore, we aimed to provide supportive care for affected oral cancer patients. Methods A rapid situational analysis was conducted among 25‐randomly selected oral cancer patients of an ongoing interventional study aimed at improving life situation of oral cancer patients. Results Over‐the‐phone supportive care tailored to the needs of oral cancer patients, provided by a health professional, deemed a simple but helpful intervention. Conclusions Facilitating patients to navigate the health care system to ensure that they can continue in receiving timely treatment was the most critical aspect of the intervention. Interventions tailored to patients’ needs could offer better supportive care for cancer patients in COVID‐19 pandemic scenario.

Pattern and Causes of Oral and Maxillofacial Injuries Presented to a Tertiary Care Public Dental Hospital in Strictly Imposed COVID-19 Lockdown Scenario

“…This resulted in curtailing indigenous community transmission of the infection and limiting the death toll to 13 as for 24 September 2020, attributed to COVID-19 [16]. In Sri Lanka, oral healthcare provision has been closely integrated into the existing public healthcare delivery model, which follows a hierarchical delivery structure of levels of care [21]. Accordingly, in line with clinical practice restrictions around the world [4][5][6][7][8][9], providing routine dental treatment which involved aerosol-generating procedures was temporarily suspended.…”

Systematic rapid living review of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cancer survivors: update to August 27th, 2020

“…Survivors have been subject to signi cant delays and cancellations of follow-up appointments and the rapid transition of in-person healthcare interactions to telehealth in resource settings that permit its widespread implementation [7,11,19,21,[24][25][26]. As such, the pandemic has affected the availability and accessibility of routine healthcare services.…”

“…Preliminary research in the eld indicates that cancer patients and survivors may have increased susceptibility to COVID-19 infection [18,22] and as a result, the necessity of interventions must be weighted against the potential risk of inadvertent COVID-19 exposure [18]. In an attempt to protect cancer survivors and due to the redirection of healthcare resources, cancer surveillance and other elements of survivorship care have been postponed or cancelled [7,11,19,21,[24][25][26]. This may result in increased anxiety, diminished quality of life and delayed diagnosis of any disease recurrence or secondary malignancies [16].…”

“…However, Chan et al [7] have noted that many barriers continue to impede widespread implementation of telehealth and great disparities exist in how patient needs are being triaged amid the pandemic. Ratnasekra et al [26] have also highlighted that lockdown restrictions imposed due to COVID-19 have impacted the availability and accessibility or routine healthcare services for cancer patients and survivors. In fact, Papautsky & Hamlish [25] conducted a survey of breast cancer survivors in which 44% reported delays across all aspects of cancer care and treatment.…”

“…According to Koczwara [11], cancer survivors experience greater psychological distress and di culty managing physical symptoms than the general public and may be unable to continue to adhere to lifestyle recommendations due to pandemic restrictions that have limited physical examinations and required survivors to self-administer exercise programs previously delivered by healthcare professionals. Ratnasekra et al [26] noted that oral cancer survivors experiencing pain and di culty swallowing faced di culties in accessing routine treatment and medication due to lockdown restrictions. Cheung et al [17] highlighted that pediatric cancer survivors believed to have increased susceptibility to COVID-19 have found themselves con ned to their homes which may result in downstream adverse health outcomes and poor psychological wellbeing.…”