ABSTRACT
COVID-19 pandemic is one of the biggest crises faced by health-care systems in the recent times. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on radiology workflow, working pattern, training and continuing professional development (CPD) activities, as well as personal well-being of the radiologists during the pandemic. Material and Methods: Questionnaire designed to gather the opinions regarding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was distributed to radiologists throughout the world in electronic format. Anonymized responses were obtained and analyzed. Two hundred radiologists, working in 17 different countries, responded to our questionnaire. Majority of the respondents were from India (72.8%) and 70% of the them were in the age group of 25-45 years. About 80% of respondents felt that they were well protected or moderately well protected in terms of the personal protective equipment (PPE), however, most of them felt that the use of PPE had affected their ability to work. Similar number of radiologists felt that there was significant reduction in the radiology workload. More than half of the respondents felt that their working patterns were altered by the pandemic with drastic impact on teaching, CPD activities, and personal well-being. COVID-19 pandemic has had profound impact on the radiologists all over the world. Learning from the experiences of the first wave should be used to provide innovative solutions to some of the challenges posed to provide better radiology services, training, and improve the well-being of radiologists if we encounter a similar situation in the future. COVID-19 pandemic had significant impact on radiologists. Radiologists felt that they were well or moderately well protected with PPEs;however, PPEs affected their ability to work. Radiology workflow was significantly reduced in the pandemic with more radiologists working from home. COVID-19 pandemic had deleterious effect on radiologist's well-being, education, and CPD activities.
ABSTRACT
AIM: To evaluate the response measures in continuing an image-guided intervention service in two tertiary-level musculoskeletal oncology centres during the COVID-19 pandemic. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was a retrospective review of all patients undergoing image-guided intervention in the computed tomography (CT) and normal ultrasound (US) rooms from 24 March 2020 to 24 May 2020 (during the COVID-19 pandemic peak) at Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, London, and Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, Birmingham, UK. Measures were put in place to address air pressures, airflow direction, aerosol generation, and the safe utilisation of existing scanning rooms and work lists for interventional procedures. RESULTS: Three hundred and thirty-one patients (164 at Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital and 167 at Royal Orthopaedic Hospital) underwent image-guided procedures at both sites in the CT and US rooms. At the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, 40% of all procedures were performed under general anaesthesia. These consisted of 47 CT biopsies, 7 CT radiofrequency ablations (RFAs), and 12 US biopsies. At the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, 86% of all procedures were performed under local anaesthetic, with no general anaesthetic procedures. These consisted of 61 CT biopsies and 83 US biopsies. All 256 patients having procedures in the CT room had no post-procedural complications or COVID-19-related symptoms and morbidity on follow-up. CONCLUSION: By adopting a pragmatic approach with meticulous planning, a limited, but fully functional image-guided interventional list can be run without any adverse patient outcomes.