Open AccessPalliative care delivery in cancer patients in the era of Covid-19 outbreak: Unique needs, barriers, and tools for solutions
Author(s) -
Seema Mishra,
Sudip Biswas,
Sushma Bhatnagar
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
indian journal of palliative care/indian journal of palliative care
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.395
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1998-3735
pISSN - 0973-1075
DOI - 10.4103/ijpc.ijpc_194_20
Subject(s) - palliative care , medicine , preparedness , pandemic , outbreak , intensive care medicine , disease , covid-19 , health care , cancer , medical emergency , nursing , infectious disease (medical specialty) , pathology , economic growth , political science , law , economics
World is facing a pandemic recently due to the outbreak of COVID-19 infection. Cancer has been identified as one of the major comorbidities which cause more severe disease due to COVID-19 infection. Moreover, there are several resource limitations and restrictions to avail the standard oncological health facilities due to robust measures taken for infection control. In this situation, palliative care in cancer patients deserves special attention. Their symptom management, psychological, social, cultural needs tremendously increase during the epidemic. Thus, we need to recognize the unique palliative care needs of cancer patients during pandemic and formulate the plan to maintain continuity of services. Triaging systems are essential tools for proper resource allocation during a pandemic. Therefore, we suggest triaging tools for emergency in hospital palliative care services: community-based palliative care and end of life care for cancer patients. Incorporation of newer technologies and identifying the potential resources are the other key components of the preparedness strategy.