Ensuring Patient and Employee Safety During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating effect on people’s health, finances and access to care. Not only is the virus responsible for the death of more than 200,000 Americans, but it has kept others away from their doctors at an alarming rate. Since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic in March, preventive measures such as colonoscopies, mammograms and annual exams are down 50% or more—a disturbing trend that can lead to dangerous delays in cancer diagnoses and treatment.

At Florida Cancer Specialists and Research Institute (FCS), such delays were simply not an option. We quickly enacted stringent procedures and protocols in nearly 90 clinical sites that would ensure the safety of our patients — and our more than 4,300 employees—while treatment plans continued with as little disruption as possible.

We made telehealth services available at all our clinics, allowing patients access to vital care management while minimizing the possibility of COVID-19 exposure. This allows patients to communicate with their physicians, advanced practice providers, nurses, care managers and navigators, social workers and oncology dietitians from the comfort and safety of their own home, as well as view their laboratory results and review treatment plans.  Through our medication delivery program, Rx To Go, patients who are concerned about visiting a pharmacy are able to have their oral oncolytic drugs shipped right to their door.

Inside our clinics, we are following Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines by screening patients and their approved visitors with temperature checks and questionnaires before they enter. Employees are also screened at the beginning and end of each shift and required to wear masks throughout the day. We adjusted our hours of operation to space outpatient appointments and implemented social distance protocols in all common areas. Finally, clinics and offices are cleaned and sanitized thoroughly each day.

Our safety measures extend to all FCS employees, who we depend on each day to provide high-quality and essential care to our patients. We set up cross-departmental, cross-functional teams to identify, address and consistently communicate issues and plans for anticipated long-term challenges. We made sure our frontline clinicians have sufficient personal protection equipment (PPE), and we strengthened our leave and benefits policies to support team members.

There is no question that the toll of COVID-19 is both mental and physical.  That is why we also took steps to ensure our managers were properly trained on the best ways to deal with anxiety and stress among team members.

All these measures taken by FCS were so effective that, after experiencing a nearly 30% drop in new and returning patients in March and April, our current numbers have rebounded to 2019 levels or higher. That means we are once again providing lifesaving and life-enhancing treatments and services to our patients despite the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. We have even hired more than 400 new employees—all of whom were recruited and onboarded virtually.

These successes are a credit to the entire FCS team. We banded together, leaned on each other, and continued to serve and encourage our patients in the face of enormous adversity. Despite the pandemic, FCS has been able to expand our research capabilities, enhance our infrastructure and, most importantly, deliver the best patient care to those who depend on us the most.