Longitudinal Quantitative Analysis of Radiation Oncology Staff Illness in a New York City Center during COVID-19: The Impact of New Guidelines on Operations and Employee Health
Purpose: The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) forced radiation oncology clinics to overhaul operational policies, but the effect on employee safety has not, to our knowledge, been reported. The New York Proton Center (NYPC), a large freestanding clinic in New York City, New York, presents a 1-month expe...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2020-08-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Particle Therapy |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://theijpt.org/doi/pdf/10.14338/IJPT-20-00032.1 |
| _version_ | 1827160709327224832 |
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| author | Shaakir Hasan, DO Robert H. Press, MD Arpit Chhabra, MD J. Isabelle Choi, MD Charles B. Simone II, MD |
| author_facet | Shaakir Hasan, DO Robert H. Press, MD Arpit Chhabra, MD J. Isabelle Choi, MD Charles B. Simone II, MD |
| author_sort | Shaakir Hasan, DO |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Purpose: The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) forced radiation oncology clinics to overhaul operational policies, but the effect on employee safety has not, to our knowledge, been reported. The New York Proton Center (NYPC), a large freestanding clinic in New York City, New York, presents a 1-month experience of employee-reported health outcomes after the infiltration of COVID-19 and enforcement of policies designed to mitigate its impact.
Materials and Methods: In March 2020, new operational policies were implemented, including rigorous and frequent sanitation, visitor and treatment restrictions, distribution of personal protective equipment, work-from-home orders, and isolated nursing and radiation therapy teams. Employees of NYPC were prospectively monitored for exposure and symptoms of COVID-19. Work hours lost because of illness or quarantines were quantified from March 1, 2020, to March 31, 2020.
Results: Among 95 total employees, 23 (24%) were quarantined because of symptoms (n = 15; 65%), high-risk exposure (n = 5; 22%), or self-quarantined with personal concern (n = 3; 13%). Of 44 full-time, on-site employees, 39% (n = 17, including 6 therapists and 5 nurses) missed significant work time, including 6 (14%) with confirmed COVID-19. At full capacity, NYPC would have used 7260 work hours during March 2020 from the full-time, on-site staff, which was reduced by 18.8% overall (25.2% of nursing and 13.3% of therapy work hours), all in the latter half of the month. Among the therapist lost work hours, 92% were from 2 of 7 distinct, isolated therapy teams (29%). Without isolation, the exposure was modeled to have been 100%.
Conclusion: Despite losing significant staff hours in our department because of COVID- 19, early and aggressive adoption of current, recommended policy guidelines outlined in this manuscript allowed NYPC to continue patient operations at full capacity. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T08:19:34Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b806e48c020242c684d9e2ef7591dcf6 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2331-5180 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-03-21T00:17:20Z |
| publishDate | 2020-08-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | International Journal of Particle Therapy |
| spelling | doaj.art-b806e48c020242c684d9e2ef7591dcf62024-08-03T09:04:46ZengElsevierInternational Journal of Particle Therapy2331-51802020-08-0171212710.14338/IJPT-20-00032.12331-5180-7-1-21Longitudinal Quantitative Analysis of Radiation Oncology Staff Illness in a New York City Center during COVID-19: The Impact of New Guidelines on Operations and Employee HealthShaakir Hasan, DO0Robert H. Press, MD1Arpit Chhabra, MD2J. Isabelle Choi, MD3Charles B. Simone II, MD4New York Proton Center, New York, NY, USANew York Proton Center, New York, NY, USANew York Proton Center, New York, NY, USANew York Proton Center, New York, NY, USANew York Proton Center, New York, NY, USAPurpose: The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) forced radiation oncology clinics to overhaul operational policies, but the effect on employee safety has not, to our knowledge, been reported. The New York Proton Center (NYPC), a large freestanding clinic in New York City, New York, presents a 1-month experience of employee-reported health outcomes after the infiltration of COVID-19 and enforcement of policies designed to mitigate its impact. Materials and Methods: In March 2020, new operational policies were implemented, including rigorous and frequent sanitation, visitor and treatment restrictions, distribution of personal protective equipment, work-from-home orders, and isolated nursing and radiation therapy teams. Employees of NYPC were prospectively monitored for exposure and symptoms of COVID-19. Work hours lost because of illness or quarantines were quantified from March 1, 2020, to March 31, 2020. Results: Among 95 total employees, 23 (24%) were quarantined because of symptoms (n = 15; 65%), high-risk exposure (n = 5; 22%), or self-quarantined with personal concern (n = 3; 13%). Of 44 full-time, on-site employees, 39% (n = 17, including 6 therapists and 5 nurses) missed significant work time, including 6 (14%) with confirmed COVID-19. At full capacity, NYPC would have used 7260 work hours during March 2020 from the full-time, on-site staff, which was reduced by 18.8% overall (25.2% of nursing and 13.3% of therapy work hours), all in the latter half of the month. Among the therapist lost work hours, 92% were from 2 of 7 distinct, isolated therapy teams (29%). Without isolation, the exposure was modeled to have been 100%. Conclusion: Despite losing significant staff hours in our department because of COVID- 19, early and aggressive adoption of current, recommended policy guidelines outlined in this manuscript allowed NYPC to continue patient operations at full capacity.https://theijpt.org/doi/pdf/10.14338/IJPT-20-00032.1covid-19corona virusproton centeremployee health |
| spellingShingle | Shaakir Hasan, DO Robert H. Press, MD Arpit Chhabra, MD J. Isabelle Choi, MD Charles B. Simone II, MD Longitudinal Quantitative Analysis of Radiation Oncology Staff Illness in a New York City Center during COVID-19: The Impact of New Guidelines on Operations and Employee Health International Journal of Particle Therapy covid-19 corona virus proton center employee health |
| title | Longitudinal Quantitative Analysis of Radiation Oncology Staff Illness in a New York City Center during COVID-19: The Impact of New Guidelines on Operations and Employee Health |
| title_full | Longitudinal Quantitative Analysis of Radiation Oncology Staff Illness in a New York City Center during COVID-19: The Impact of New Guidelines on Operations and Employee Health |
| title_fullStr | Longitudinal Quantitative Analysis of Radiation Oncology Staff Illness in a New York City Center during COVID-19: The Impact of New Guidelines on Operations and Employee Health |
| title_full_unstemmed | Longitudinal Quantitative Analysis of Radiation Oncology Staff Illness in a New York City Center during COVID-19: The Impact of New Guidelines on Operations and Employee Health |
| title_short | Longitudinal Quantitative Analysis of Radiation Oncology Staff Illness in a New York City Center during COVID-19: The Impact of New Guidelines on Operations and Employee Health |
| title_sort | longitudinal quantitative analysis of radiation oncology staff illness in a new york city center during covid 19 the impact of new guidelines on operations and employee health |
| topic | covid-19 corona virus proton center employee health |
| url | https://theijpt.org/doi/pdf/10.14338/IJPT-20-00032.1 |
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