Nursing
Reviews based on an overview written on anxiety revealed an interesting thing. Many of the reviewers felt that the authors were missing the opportunity to cast the paper into the context of Covid-19. The primary reviewers, according to the authors, deemed the contents of the paper as not useful because it failed to capture the effects of Covid-19 on anxiety. The authors do acknowledge that anxiety during the Covid-19 pandemic is high. However, they also note that anxiety is always high amongst people living with cancer as well as communities that are undertreated. The authors felt that the reviews minimized the importance of the topic being discussed. According to the other, the topic is important whether there is a pandemic or not.
It is also important to note, as one of the people in the meeting pointed out, that at the moment, many articles have been written on Covid-19. One would wonder whether journal publishers would want another one when their plates are already full. Although one would easily argue that, it is necessary to write the paper concerning Covid-19 to provide better treatment for cancer patients even after the pandemic. However, it is important to note that there have been no strides made with other mental illnesses, such as depression, across the board in terms of treatment. Nevertheless, the authors of the paper argue that anxiety is not caused by Covid-19. Rather, anxiety is exacerbated by the pandemic.
It is important to note also, according to one member, that currently everything, especially in the medicine and psychiatrist fields, is being related to Covid-19. Despite this, the member argues that anxiety during the Covid-19 pandemic has not increased as much. The cases of anxiety might have increased during the pandemic but the effects in relation to cancer are the same. Nevertheless, it would be good to mention the effects of Covid-19 in the review paper since pandemics do not come around very often. Although it is not the focus of the paper, it makes the paper more timely and relevant. Besides, most cancer patients are used to being isolated and constantly disinfect to protect against germs, hence they are not affected by anxiety as people would think.