![]() How could this affect clinical practice in the long-term?Īt Mayo Clinic, we have been quite focused on telemedicine. We are trying to balance things out as much as possible, and our patients are incredibly understanding. Some patients will not come to see a doctor even if they are symptomatic because they are scared.Īlso, we may have to sacrifice the intensity of treatment for some patients for their own protection or because that is their desire. My biggest concern is that once this is over-and it will be over-a lot of patients who will delay their care over the next 3 months, will present with more advanced disease. Those measures have certainly affected our day-to-day operations in many ways, but we are focusing on safety measures COVID-19.ĭo you anticipate there being disruptions or delays in care? The fewer of us who are in the hospital, the less we will be in contact with each other. This principle keeps the standard of social distancing. It is strange for physicians to think about home as because we are used to being in the clinic and hospital all the time for our patients, but it is understandable. Those who are not actively seeing patients on a particular day are asked to work from home. We have been working aggressively to rotate our providers. I pray it will not get to that point, but if it does, we are going to be ready so that we minimize mortality. Elective surgeries and other elective have been cancelled to preserve masks, protective gear, ventilators, and other materials for patients who will need them. What other measures have been taken to reduce the spread of the virus? If we lose our providers to illness-or potentially death-we can no longer take care of our patients. We want to protect ourselves because we are the ones who take care of the patients. However, this is certainly a different level than we have seen. Of course, as providers we understand that we take risks all the time when treating our patients. We want to protect the most vulnerable patients who require treatment regardless of this pandemic.Īdditionally, we want to protect our providers. If those patients come into the clinic, they put those who are on treatment or those who are in the hospital at higher risk. Healthier patients are at risk of infecting others. We want those patients who do not need to be physically present to. We want to protect them that is the primary goal. My patients have been incredibly understanding. How have your patients responded to these protective strategies? We knew that we would have to move to telemedicine at some point, so at Mayo Clinic, we started implementing telemedicine and digital platform strategies even before COVID-19. Up to 20% of older patients who have comorbidities can die from COVID-19. OncLive: What safety measures have been put in place at Mayo Clinic to reduce the spread of COVID-19?īekaii-Saab: Since we first started seeing the data coming out of China, we've been most concerned for our vulnerable patients who are the most susceptible to getting sick and dying from the virus. In an interview with OncLive, Bekaii-Saab, medical oncologist, head of the Gastrointestinal Cancer Program, Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, medical director, Cancer Clinical Research Office, and vice chair and section chief, Medical Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic, discussed the shift toward telemedicine, the impact of protective strategies on the trajectory of COVID-19, and the potential aftereffects of the virus. ![]() This will be over at some point-hopefully sooner rather than later-and then we will get back to caring for our patients in the way we always did." While the history of humanity has seen a lot of pandemics, we haven't seen anything like this in our lifetimes,” said Bekaii-Saab. Such measures include the use of telemedicine, cancelling elective surgeries, rotating providers, maintaining social distancing, and surge planning. As the number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) continues to rise in the United States and around the world, hospitals, clinics, and academic institutions have implemented protective measures to keep vulnerable patients safe during the pandemic, said Tanios S. ![]()
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