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Take care or “German Angst”? Lessons from cancer care during COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020

OBJECTIVE: While the second wave of COVID-19 has started in Europe, data are still missing on the consequences of the first one for patients with cancer. The aim of our study was to learn more about the experiences of German patients and staff in the oncology services. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An anon...

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Autores principales: Büntzel, Jens, Micke, Oliver, Klein, Michael, Büntzel, Judith, Walter, Stefanie, Keinki, Christian, Huebner, Jutta
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7776312/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33387036
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00432-020-03492-4
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author Büntzel, Jens
Micke, Oliver
Klein, Michael
Büntzel, Judith
Walter, Stefanie
Keinki, Christian
Huebner, Jutta
author_facet Büntzel, Jens
Micke, Oliver
Klein, Michael
Büntzel, Judith
Walter, Stefanie
Keinki, Christian
Huebner, Jutta
author_sort Büntzel, Jens
collection PubMed
description OBJECTIVE: While the second wave of COVID-19 has started in Europe, data are still missing on the consequences of the first one for patients with cancer. The aim of our study was to learn more about the experiences of German patients and staff in the oncology services. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An anonymous online survey was conducted among cancer patients and their therapists (physicians, medical staff, psychologists, spiritual care givers) in Germany between April and May 2020 asking about burden, fears, and perceived changes in German oncology service system. Besides answer frequencies of different stakeholders, uni- and multivariate analyses were performed for selected items to identify areas of high impact. RESULTS: In total 752 participants were included. All groups have identified high mental burden as central problem. A majority was confused about varying information policies and strategies against the pandemic. Patient reported restricted visits, isolation and delay of treatment as central fears and problems. The majority of fears could be coped by the health care workers. The patients describe processes at the oncology services during the first wave. Personal experiences with COVID-19 have had no influence on the felt burden of the patients. Physicians, medical staff, psychologists and spiritual care givers were extremely stressed but repressed their own burden. They await financial, physical and mental problems for their own future. CONCLUSIONS: The presented personal views and experiences allow focusing the discussions about heath care systems during the on-going pandemic. Support for health care workers, as much routine as possible in oncology services, and transparency in information will be the keys for good management in futural situations of crisis. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00432-020-03492-4.
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spelling pubmed-77763122021-01-04 Take care or “German Angst”? Lessons from cancer care during COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020 Büntzel, Jens Micke, Oliver Klein, Michael Büntzel, Judith Walter, Stefanie Keinki, Christian Huebner, Jutta J Cancer Res Clin Oncol Original Article – Clinical Oncology OBJECTIVE: While the second wave of COVID-19 has started in Europe, data are still missing on the consequences of the first one for patients with cancer. The aim of our study was to learn more about the experiences of German patients and staff in the oncology services. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An anonymous online survey was conducted among cancer patients and their therapists (physicians, medical staff, psychologists, spiritual care givers) in Germany between April and May 2020 asking about burden, fears, and perceived changes in German oncology service system. Besides answer frequencies of different stakeholders, uni- and multivariate analyses were performed for selected items to identify areas of high impact. RESULTS: In total 752 participants were included. All groups have identified high mental burden as central problem. A majority was confused about varying information policies and strategies against the pandemic. Patient reported restricted visits, isolation and delay of treatment as central fears and problems. The majority of fears could be coped by the health care workers. The patients describe processes at the oncology services during the first wave. Personal experiences with COVID-19 have had no influence on the felt burden of the patients. Physicians, medical staff, psychologists and spiritual care givers were extremely stressed but repressed their own burden. They await financial, physical and mental problems for their own future. CONCLUSIONS: The presented personal views and experiences allow focusing the discussions about heath care systems during the on-going pandemic. Support for health care workers, as much routine as possible in oncology services, and transparency in information will be the keys for good management in futural situations of crisis. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00432-020-03492-4. Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2021-01-02 2021 /pmc/articles/PMC7776312/ /pubmed/33387036 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00432-020-03492-4 Text en © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH, DE part of Springer Nature 2021 This article is made available via the PMC Open Access Subset for unrestricted research re-use and secondary analysis in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for the duration of the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic.
spellingShingle Original Article – Clinical Oncology
Büntzel, Jens
Micke, Oliver
Klein, Michael
Büntzel, Judith
Walter, Stefanie
Keinki, Christian
Huebner, Jutta
Take care or “German Angst”? Lessons from cancer care during COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020
title Take care or “German Angst”? Lessons from cancer care during COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020
title_full Take care or “German Angst”? Lessons from cancer care during COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020
title_fullStr Take care or “German Angst”? Lessons from cancer care during COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020
title_full_unstemmed Take care or “German Angst”? Lessons from cancer care during COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020
title_short Take care or “German Angst”? Lessons from cancer care during COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020
title_sort take care or “german angst”? lessons from cancer care during covid-19 pandemic in spring 2020
topic Original Article – Clinical Oncology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7776312/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33387036
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00432-020-03492-4
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