COVID-19 Information for Cancer Patients

April, 2020

Dear Cancer Patients,

The coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19) is an international pandemic that has significantly impacted every aspect of our daily lives and is straining our healthcare system.  For our urology patients who continue to require medical care this situation has been even more disruptive.  You may have had scans and labs cancelled, visits delayed or converted to remote video visits.   At UCSF, we have led the way in our preparations for this situation.  We have implemented many new procedures designed to allow us to care for all patients during this time including any patients that develop COVID-19, while also providing continuity of care for those that need it. 

At UCSF in conjunction with our nationally recognized experts in Infectious Disease we have implemented several new policies and procedures allowing us to not only provide care for a large number of patients with respiratory illness, but to also continue to deliver necessary treatments and testing for our Cancer patients and survivors and prevent any unnecessary spread of COVID-19.  These procedures include:

  • Converting in-person appointments to Telehealth video visits where appropriate
  • Phone Screening for respiratory symptoms prior to any in-person visit.  Patients with Respiratory symptoms are contacted by the practice for further evaluation and management.
  • Lobby screening prior to entry to any building at UCSF for all staff, providers and patients.  Any person presenting with respiratory symptoms will be evaluated at a respiratory clinic and subsequent care will be coordinated with your primary physician. 
  • Continued and increased frequency of cleaning of all clinical areas including lobby furniture, elevators, counters, and equipment in all of the clinics including the Infusion Center, Radiology and lab.
  • Strictly limiting the number of visitors allowed, while continuing to facilitate their involvement through phone calls, FaceTime and video visits (Zoom).
  • Decreasing the volume of routine testing including labs and radiology in order to free up staff and equipment to be available for critically ill respiratory patients.
  • Modifying the treatment protocols of many of our cancer patients to limit the number of visits to UCSF and the amount of immunosuppression.
  • Delaying many of the surgeries to ensure we have the necessary beds, resources and post op care available for all of our patients.

Please know that all of these policies and procedures are created in a multidisciplinary manner with the input of all the providers and people involved in your care.  UCSF continues to prioritize the care and management of our cancer patients and survivors.  Please don’t hesitate to contact us through MyChart or by phone with any questions you may have regarding your care and any changes in treatment schedules that may have occurred related to the COVID-19 situation. (New patients please click here for New Patient Portal.)

Best regards,

                                                 

Raj Pruthi, MD, MHA, FACSRaj S. Pruthi, MD, MHA, FACS   
Professor
Department of Urology
University of California, San Francisco

 


Max Meng, MDMaxwell V. Meng, MD
Professor and Chief, Urologic Oncology             
Department of Urology
University of California, San Francisco