Corona virus protection in hospital for chemo treatment

Hi

I'm hoping to get the same info, so i'm going to keep an eye on the answers to your post.

I had chemo last week and they called a day or so before to check I had neither a temperature or a cough. 

But noone was wearing masks in the chemo suite and neither did I. But I would love to know what is best practice and get any ideas about prevention.

Thanks and wishing you and your partner well 

Hi and , 

I am not a medic but a patient like yourselves, I haven’t been to hospital since the social distancing came out, but interesting that Gunnersgal has, and I’m not surprised that no one was wearing masks.  I’m not sure if anyone other than your hospital team can fully answer your question, you are understandably concerned and your hospital will have put some safeguarding already into place, Macmillan have a link to information which seems to be changing quite rapidly, I will put it below for you to browse through.

https://www.macmillan.org.uk/coronavirus/cancer-and-coronavirus#cancer_and_coronavirus

My daughter lives in Japan, and over there people regularly wear masks when they have a cold so that they don’t spread it to anyone else, the masks aren’t worn to stop them from getting a cold, the same thing has been said on Tv. The virus is spread by droplets from coughing or sneezing and then if those droplets are present on someone’s hand and passed to other surfaces which you touch and then transfer to yourself by touching your face. That is why it’s important to keep 2 metres away, far enough that an accidental coughs droplets won’t reach you perhaps, and handwashing. The hospitals are reducing the number of people coming in I believe with telephone  appointments, blood test being down elsewhere for some, treatment for some being postponed. I always use a tissue after I have washed my hands to not touch door handles, I always took my own hand gel with me as well but the hospital had plenty of it’s own sanitisers frequently spaced, I don’t know if this is still so. I have a friend who has bought some protective gloves from a DIY store, not sure if they are still open or necessary. The hospital will be doing deep cleans and the chemo chairs are sanitised even under normal circumstances between people, they also take people’s temperature before treatment and a patient with a cough or sneeze won’t b3 having treatment, but I expect I will still be a bit concerned when I’m due to go in 2 weeks time, or anxious if they decide to delay my treatment, but I am at least happy with my team that they will be doing as much as they can to minimise risks. There might be a different route to the chemo suite which has less people, they may be asking partners not to attend with you, they may text you instead of you sitting in a waiting area, all ideas I’ve seen mentioned.

I hope your treatment goes well, if there are less people around there will be a greater need for our own entertainment instead of chatting to our fellow patients.

Hi and ,

A few days ago my 75 year old Mother in Law and I had an argument about the use of masks as she believed that she would be OK to go to the shop so long as she wore her mask and I disagreed so I did a bit of research.

The first thing I found out is that the World Health Organisation (WHO) does not recommend the wearing of masks.  As KTatHome said the virus is spread when people cough or sneeze and the virus is expelled in water droplets.  Once it is in the air the droplets disperse and the virus can then spread on it's own.  Wearing a mask is therefore primarily to protect the people who are not wearing the mask as the mask is intended to catch the droplets on the inside rather than stopping the virus getting in from the outside.

My MIL argued that if masks did not work why did medical staff wear them which I thought was a valid question.  The answer is that medical staff work in such close proximity to people that if someone coughs or sneezes then these water droplets can go directly onto their mouth, nose or eyes (this is why they also wear visors or goggles).  It is not reasonable to ask someone who is ill with a respiratory disease to wear a mask which may further impede their breathing.  

Viruses are tiny and are described as being sub microscopic and smaller than the cells in your body that they invade.  As such it would be difficult to build any physical barrier to stop them that would not make it difficult to breath.  I did see a "snood" type mask in an article the other day in which the manufacturers claimed that it can prevent and kill 95% of viruses although it has yet to be tested by the medical profession.  I suspect that rather than trying to block the virus the mask tries to ensure that the virus comes into contact with something that kills it.  However, the WHO described that it is unlikely that the virus is transmitted as an airborne virus at a distance of more than a meter, hence the 2 meter distancing recommendation, as the water droplets will fall and settle.  However, it is still active once it has settled on the surface hence the recommendation to wash your hands frequently and to stop touching your face.  This is also why it is important to use a tissue to catch your sneezes and coughs in a tissue and bin the tissue afterwards.  The virus can survive for about ten days on a suitable hard surface, glass or metal for example, but may survive longer in a cold temperature, hence the hope that warmer weather will slow the spread as well.

I am sure that if the research throws anything else up them the medical team treating you will change practice to take this into account but at the moment they are following what is determined to be best practice.

I hope that this is not too confusing and helps you in some way.

Wishing you all the best at this difficult time.

Gragon xx

Thanks for the reply KTatHome . I see other countries wearing masks out and then wonder about us. I have heard experts say masks don’t work, and then I see other countries wearing them routinely. But there are many countries where people routinely wear them anyway.. I have an amazing team and I know they will do their utmost to give me the right advice. The nurses, support and cleaners I see with my own eyes working so hard. Last week the waiting room was definitely quieter than usual and the chemo suite seems much quieter, with fewer staff and patients. And I hope your treatment goes smoothly in two weeks. It sounds like we are both lucky to have wonderful chemo teams. I’ve been blessed all through my treatments. All the best. And yep.. here’s to us making our own entertainment during treatment ! And again thanks for letting me hijack your post!

Grafon

thanks so much for taking the time to reply. That’s really good advice. I haven’t got the intellect, or patience to investigate as much as I should and lazily come here asking for kind people like you for advice. So thanks for being there and all the best. I’m in a happy position of not having to go to shops. Others are running around for me and for that I am very grateful!

look after yourself and your family

Ps Gragon apologies for spelling your name wrong. My attention to detail is appalling..

Hi all thank you very much for the replies, I appreciate the thoughts and opinions and understanding of procedure changes. I have no doubt the hospitals are doing all they can.

Thank you and best of luck to everyone. @gunnersgal and @ktathome.

And @gragon. Apologies, new to chatboards so not 100% sure how to see titles!