The Early Effect of COVID-19 Restrictions on an Academic Orthopedic Surgery Department.
Orthopedics
; 43(4): 228-232, 2020 Jul 01.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-648046
ABSTRACT
The SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a global influence on health care. The authors examined the early effect of hospital- and state-mandated restrictions on an orthopedic surgery department and hypothesized that the volume of ambulatory clinic encounters, office and surgical procedures, and cases would dramatically decrease. A retrospective review was performed of all encounters in an orthopedic surgery department at a level I academic trauma center during a 4-week period, from March 16, 2020, to April 12, 2020. The results were compared with two control 4-week periods, February 17, 2020, to March 15, 2020, and March 16, 2019, to April 12, 2019. Weekly volume and work relative value units (RVUs) of clinic encounters, office and surgical procedures, and cases were assessed. The type of ambulatory visit also was recorded. Comparisons of mean weekly volume and RVUs between the study and control periods were performed with Student's t test. Surgical cases were categorized into fracture or dislocation, acute soft tissue or nerve injury, infection, oncology, and elective or nonurgent. After implementation of hospital- and state-mandated restrictions on elective health care, the volume of ambulatory orthopedic surgery clinic encounters decreased by 74% to 77%, the volume of clinic procedures decreased by 95%, and the volume of surgical cases decreased by 88%. The percentage of clinic visits performed via telemedicine increased from 0.3% to 81.2%. Elective surgical cases ceased, and the volume of nonelective surgical cases decreased by 51%. During the first 4 weeks after COVID-19-related restrictions were imposed, an immediate and dramatic effect was observed. Compared with the control periods, significant reductions were seen in the volume of ambulatory encounters, office-based procedures, and surgical cases. In addition, the volume of nonelective surgical cases decreased by 51%. [Orthopedics. 2020;43(4)228-232.].
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Orthopedics
/
Pneumonia, Viral
/
Telemedicine
/
Elective Surgical Procedures
/
Coronavirus Infections
/
Orthopedic Procedures
/
Ambulatory Care
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
North America
Language:
English
Journal:
Orthopedics
Year:
2020
Document Type:
Article
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