Abstract
The Radiation Oncology (RO) clinical department is a significant healthcare facility in university hospitals dedicated to treating cancer patients using radiation. Radiation oncology has undergone significant workflow changes, patient appointments, patient scheduling, treatment flow, medical care, and many more to continuously treat cancer patients safely in healthcare facilities during the pandemic crisis. The present study examined the decision-making, change initiatives, implementation process, and post-transition review of these changes in the department of a major university hospital.
In contrast to the usual change initiatives, the executive level made all the crucial decisions with the support of a network of teams and then passed them on to the lower-level employees for quick implementation in the crisis. formulated quickly implemented the formulated decisions, sending the essential communications through various electronic methods. The department performed well in this change initiative/ process, allowing patients to continue radiation treatments by taking the necessary steps to tackle the crisis effectively. The department revenue was reduced over the period, and no employee lost their job due to the effective involvement of the management from the beginning of the crisis. Many employees were allowed to work from home, implemented telehealth programs for patient consultations, and provided patients with specific appointment times for radiation treatments. These steps considerably reduced department traffic to control viral spread issues successfully.