Winship's Department of Radiation Oncology celebrates how its physicians, physicists, therapists, dosimetrists, nurses, and administrative staff are providing necessary cancer care to our patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.
June 5, 2020
Winship's Department of Radiation Oncology celebrates how its physicians, physicists, therapists, dosimetrists, nurses, and administrative staff are providing necessary cancer care to our patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"As a department, we have leaned into collaboration and teamwork to ensure that we maintain a safe environment for patients to receive care," says Jeffrey Bradley, MD, FACR, FASTRO, executive vice-chair of the department.
Many changes including screening at entryways, masking, ensuring social distancing in patient waiting areas, and having virtual meetings have decreased the risk of exposure to the COVID-19 virus. To increase social distancing efforts, the department split into two teams that alternated working on-site and working remotely each week.
On-site providers met with new and current patients, covered external beam treatment and brachytherapy procedures, and assisted with entryway screening at all Winship's clinic locations. Off-site teams focused on telemedicine follow-up visits, treatment planning, remote dosimetry, chart checks, ongoing clinical projects, and research.
"The hard work and dedication of our faculty and staff have not gone unnoticed," says Winship Executive Director and Lawrence W. Davis Chair in Radiation Oncology Walter J. Curran, Jr., MD, FACR, FASCO. "This experience has strengthened and united us as a department and I am deeply appreciative of the commitment that our team shows each day as we weather this storm."