Radiation Oncology Strategies to Flatten the Curve During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic: Experience From a Large Tertiary Cancer Center
Sonal S. Noticewala, Albert C. Koong, Elizabeth S. Bloom, Seungtaek Choi, Gregory M. Chronowski, R. Ghafar, B. Ashleigh Guadagnolo, G. Brandon Gunn, Ann H. Klopp, Percy Lee, Jing Li, Zhongxing Liao, Ethan B. Ludmir, Mary Frances McAleer, Quynh-Nhu Nguyen, Matthew S. Ning, Ivy J. Robinson, David I. Rosenthal, Shalin Shah, Wendy A. Woodward, Denise Zaebst, Bouthaina S. Dabaja, Prajnan Das
Abstract
During the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, minimizing exposure risk for patients with cancer and health care personnel was of utmost importance. Here, we present steps taken to date to flatten the curve at the radiation oncology division of a tertiary cancer center with the goal of mitigating risk of exposure among patients and staff, and optimizing resource utilization. Response to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic in this large tertiary referral center included volume reduction, personal protective equipment recommendations, flexible clinic visit interaction types dictated by need and risk reduction, and numerous social distancing strategies. We hope these outlined considerations can assist the wider radiation oncology community as we collectively face this ongoing challenge.