Analysis of the status and content of consultations with a Cancer Consultation and Support Centre during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Abstract

Cancer Consultation and Support Centres (CCSCs) in Japan have been established at designated cancer hospitals nationwide and these centres provide information and consultation support for cancer care. The purpose of this study is to analyse the status and content of consultations during the COVID-19 pandemic using consultation record data from the Cancer Consultation Support Centre (CCSC) database from January 2020 to March 2021. First, we examined the number and percentage of cases involving and not involving COVID-19 and compared the items of the entry forms between the groups. The comparison between the two groups suggests that the traditional consultation items used before the COVID-19 pandemic did not adequately cover the consultation content during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, we categorised the content of consultation records related to COVID-19. As a result, the content was consolidated into 16 categories, which were appropriately captured from five different aspects. Using the resulting categories, we were able to create a complementary consultation entry form that could be operational during the COVID epidemic and consult consultants for the support they needed. Not applicable.