COVID-19 and Oncology: Service transformation during pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged healthcare systems around the world, where resources have refocused on increasing critical bed capacity to prepare for the peak in incidence of COVID-19. Oncology faces an unprecedented challenge as patients require multidisciplinary care and are more likely to be immunosuppressed. Services in oncology have been transformed using minimal resources over a short period of time. This transformation continues and telemedicine is playing a key role.

We explore how services in oncology have transformed to deliver services including consultations, systemic anticancer therapy, and surgery for patients, while shielding them from contracting COVID-19. We assess the risks and benefits of the service transformation in the immediate, interim, and long term, and how telemedicine supports the process.

We performed a comprehensive review of the literature using suitable keywords on the search engines of PubMed, SCOPUS, Google Scholar, and latest official data from May to June 2020.

Through the published literature on this topic, we discuss the transformations in oncology and the impact on patients and healthcare workers due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We reflect on the lessions from COVID-19 and assess the role of telemedicine in the future of oncology services.

Transformation of services in oncology effectively shields patients from COVID-19 infections, and telemedicine plays a role in virtual consultations. The long-term effects are yet to be seen, such as safety of home-based treatment, and effectiveness of virtual communication on patient care. As oncology requires a multidisciplinary approach, telemedicine will play a key role to improve patient-centered cancer care in the future.