Cyclin Time Critical in Assessing Patients with COVID-19 and Leukemia

Health care providers can effectively care for patients with COVID-19 and hematologic malignancies, said Stephanie Jackson DNP, MSN, RN, AOCNS, BMTCN.

Jackson, unit director, hematology/stem cell transplantation, UCLA, recently presented on leukemia essentials for the oncology nurse at the 5th Annual School of Nursing Oncology. In an interview, Jackson, who is also co-editor in chief of Oncology Nursing News, discussed the increased risk for COVID-19 that individuals with leukemia face, and how providers have adjusted their care strategies in response to the virus.

“What we do whenever we have a patient that has had COVID, we look at their cyclin time, because it may not manifest on the COVID-19 test,” said Jackson, “but we look at the cyclin time of that virus, to see how quickly it’s replicating, and to see how many antibodies they have to make sure that we’re watching that over a scheduled amount of time.”