COVID-19 Impact on Colorectal Daily Practice-How Long Will It Take to Catch Up?
J Gastrointest Surg
; 25(1): 260-268, 2021 01.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-680287
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
All elective surgeries have been postponed at our institution starting 3/16/20 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We assessed changes in hospital resource utilization and estimated the future backlog of cases in the colorectal surgery division of a large safety-net hospital.METHODS:
Patients undergoing colorectal procedures from 3/16/20 to 4/23/20 (COVID) were compared with those from January through June 2018 (historical). Resource utilization rates were calculated by weekly case volumes and hospital stay in each group. A future catch up timeframe and new wait times from scheduling to surgery dates were calculated.RESULTS:
The COVID and historical groups included 13 and 239 patients, respectively. The COVID group showed a 74% relative decrease in weekly surgical case rates (9.2 to 2.4 patients per week). Both groups had similar lengths of stay. The COVID group had a longer average ICU stay (1.4 ± 2.5 days vs. 0.4 ± 1.2 days, P = 0.016) and a 132% increase in ICU resource utilization. Overall, the COVID group had a 48% relative decrease in hospital resource utilization, owing to reduced volume but higher acuity. If the surgery numbers returns to pre-COVID volumes, the calculated "catch up" times range from 4.6 weeks to 9.2 weeks. Wait times for new cases may increase by 70% compared with pre-COVID levels.CONCLUSION:
Cancelling elective colorectal surgeries results in a decrease in overall but increase in ICU-specific resource utilization. Though necessary, cancellations result in an increasing backlog of cases that poses significant future logistical and clinical challenges in an already overburdened safety-net hospital. Effective triage systems will be critical to prioritize this backlog.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Digestive System Surgical Procedures
/
Elective Surgical Procedures
/
Colorectal Surgery
/
COVID-19
/
Intensive Care Units
/
Length of Stay
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Topics:
Long Covid
Limits:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Language:
English
Journal:
J Gastrointest Surg
Journal subject:
Gastroenterology
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S11605-020-04722-3
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