Home Visit for Cancer Patients Undergoing Chemotherapy: Challenges for Community Health Nurses During The Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Policies or measures for COVID-19 infection prevention and control, such as lockdown and social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic, affected cancer patients receiving chemotherapy and their relatives. Home visit nurses recognized the need to develop home visit strategies during the COVID-19 outbreak. In addition to using a traditional home visit approach, they integrated the family nursing process into a hybrid home visit model—meeting the patients in person along with follow-up phone calls or using the LINE application. Also, the duration of each visit at home was reduced, and nurses used personal protective equipment.  This article presents the home visit nursing process and the blended home visit model in caring for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nurses can apply these approaches when caring for cancer patients to prevent the patients and families from contacting COVID-19 and ensures that the patients receive the care they need to prevent and alleviate symptoms and side effects of chemotherapy. Although the COVID-19 pandemic is relieved, COVID-19 is still a serious infectious disease that can cause severe symptoms and life-threatening complications in people with low immunity, such as cancer patients.