Scoping Review of Peer-Reviewed Research Regarding Oncologist COVID-19 Redeployment to Emergency Care: The Emergency, Burnout, Patient Outcome, and Coping

Introduction: A limited March 2024 Google Scholar search regarding COVID-19 redeployment to emergency care in fourteen medical specialties found no oncologist returns. Identifying oncologist redeployment through a scoping review of peer-reviewed research from several databases investigates this anomaly. Method: Searched are Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, OVID, Google Scholar, and the Cochrane COVID-19 Study Register with the keywords “burnout AND COVID-19 AND emergencies AND oncologists” concerning the emergency experienced, their burnout response, and patient outcome. Results: Following the PRISMA scoping review process, the assessment is of eight reports from 17,848 results. The finding is that there was a redeployment of oncologists to emergency care. It was defined in various ways and caused oncologist burnout for several internally and externally directed reasons. These reasons negatively affected patient outcomes, contributing to the adoption of different coping techniques by oncologists. Oncologists, uniquely among medical specialists, experienced burnout regarding empathy for the increased mortality risk of their patients and the diminished doctor/patient bond. They also lacked symptom-directed coping. Conclusion: The results of this study may reinforce to oncologists the importance of their doctor/patient dyad and of initiating coping strategies that include symptom-directed health improvement techniques when the redeployment of oncologists is again to emergency care.