Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Jun 10:11:685107.
doi: 10.3389/fonc.2021.685107. eCollection 2021.

Implemented Interventions at the Naef K. Basile Cancer Institute to Protect Patients and Medical Personnel From COVID Infections: Effectiveness and Patient Satisfaction

Jean El Cheikh  1 , Samantha El Warrak  2 , Nohra Ghaoui  2 , Farouk Al Chami  2 , Maya Shahbaz  3 , Sarah Chehayeb  4 , Nagi Saghir  5 , Ali Bazarbachi  1 , Ali Taher  5
Affiliations

Implemented Interventions at the Naef K. Basile Cancer Institute to Protect Patients and Medical Personnel From COVID Infections: Effectiveness and Patient Satisfaction

Jean El Cheikh et al. Front Oncol. .

Abstract

Background: The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) was declared a pandemic by WHO in March 2020. The first case of COVID-19 was identified in Lebanon on the 21st of February 2020, amid a national economic crisis. As the numbers of cases increased, ICU admissions and mortality rose, which led hospitals across Lebanon to take certain safety measures to contain the virus. The Naef K. Basile Cancer Institute (NKBCI) at the American University of Beirut Medical Center handles oncology outpatient visits and outpatient treatment protocol infusions. The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of the safety measures put forth by the NKBCI early in the pandemic.

Methods: Oncology patients are amongst the immunosuppressed population, who are at greatest risk of contracting COVID-19 and consequently suffering its complications. In this manuscript, we evaluated the precautionary measures implemented at the NKBCI of AUBMC from March 1st to May 31st of 2020, by surveying oncology patients on the telephone who had live and virtual appointments in both the oncology outpatient clinics and infusion unit. We conducted a prospective study of 670 oncology patients who had appointments at the NKBCI during this period and used their answers to draw responses about patient satisfaction towards those safety measures.

Results: Our results involved 387 responses of oncology patients who visited the NKBCI during the period of March 1st to May 31st of 2020. 99% of our respondents gave a rating of good to excellent with these new measures. The option of online consultation was given to 35% in the hematology group compared to 19% in those with solid tumors (p=0.001). From the total, 15% of patients opted for the telemedicine experience as a new implemented strategy to provide patient-centered medical care. Of this group of patients, 22% faced problems with connectivity and 19% faced problems with online payment.

Conclusion: NKBCI was competent in following the WHO guidelines in protecting the oncology patient population. Feedback collected from the surveys will be taken into account by the committee of the NKBCI to develop new safety measures that can better control viral spread while providing patient-centered medical care.

Keywords: AUBMC; COVID-19; NKBCI; interventions; oncology; satisfaction.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Summary of methods.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Primary residence of respondents.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Classification of Oncology Diagnoses of respondents at NKBCI.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Demonstration of precautionary strategies implemented by NKBCI as per sex difference.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Khoury P, Azar E, Hitti E. Covid-19 Response in Lebanon: Current Experience and Challenges in a Low-Resource Setting. JAMA (2020) 324(6):548–9. 10.1001/jama.2020.12695 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bizri AR, Khachfe HH, Fares MY, Musharrafieh U. Covid-19 Pandemic: An Insult Over Injury for Lebanon. J Community Health (2020) 46:1–7. 10.1007/s10900-020-00884-y - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wu Z, McGoogan JM. Characteristics of and Important Lessons From the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) Outbreak in China: Summary of a Report of 72 314 Cases From the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Jama (2020) 323(13):1239–42. 10.1001/jama.2020.2648 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Cascella M, Rajnik M, Cuomo A, Dulebohn SC, Di Napoli R. Features, Evaluation, and Treatment of Coronavirus. StatPearls. Treasure Island (FL: StatPearls Publishing Copyright © 2020, StatPearls Publishing LLC; (2020).
    1. Sun P, Lu X, Xu C, Sun W, Pan B. Understanding of COVID-19 Based on Current Evidence. J Med Virol (2020) 92(6):548–51. 10.1002/jmv.25722 - DOI - PMC - PubMed