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Managing low‐risk febrile neutropenia in children in the time of COVID ‐19: What matters to parents and clinicians
Author(s) -
Haeusler Gabrielle M,
De Abreu Lourenco Richard,
Bakos Cindy,
O'Brien Tracey,
Slavin Monica A,
Clark Julia E,
McMullan Brendan,
Borland Meredith L,
Babl Franz E,
Krishnasamy Meinir,
Vanevski Marijana,
Thursky Karin A,
Hall Lisa
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of paediatrics and child health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.631
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1440-1754
pISSN - 1034-4810
DOI - 10.1111/jpc.15330
Subject(s) - medicine , pandemic , telehealth , febrile neutropenia , family medicine , covid-19 , health care , nursing , neutropenia , disease , infectious disease (medical specialty) , telemedicine , toxicity , economics , economic growth
Aim The Australian ‘There is no place like home’ project is implementing a paediatric low‐risk febrile neutropenia (FN) programme across eight paediatric hospitals. We sought to identify the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic on programme implementation. Methods Paediatric oncology, infectious diseases and emergency medicine health‐care workers and parent/carers were surveyed to explore the impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on home‐based FN care. Online surveys were distributed nationally to health‐care workers involved in care of children with FN and to parents or carers of children with cancer. Results Surveys were completed by 78 health‐care workers and 32 parents/carers. Overall, 95% of health‐care workers had confidence in the safety of home‐based FN care, with 35% reporting changes at their own hospitals in response to the pandemic that made them more comfortable with this model. Compared to pre‐pandemic, >50% of parent/carers were now more worried about attending the hospital with their child and >80% were interested in receiving home‐based FN care. Among both groups, increased telehealth access and acceptance of home‐based care, improved patient quality of life and reduced risk of nosocomial infection were identified as programme enablers, while re‐direction of resources due to COVID‐19 and challenges in implementing change during a crisis were potential barriers. Conclusion There is strong clinician and parent/carer support for home‐based management of low‐risk FN across Australia. Changes made to the delivery of cancer care in response to the pandemic have generally increased acceptance for home‐based treatments and opportunities exist to leverage these to refine the low‐risk FN programme.