ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: The first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic caused the cancellation of elective interventions. After the improvement of the epidemiological situation, new models of care were applied in hospitals to restart the programmed surgical activity. The aim was to evaluate the effectiveness of the organizational model established to recover surgical activity during the transition period of the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: Retrospective observational study comparing patients who underwent schedule surgery from September 1 until October 31, 2020, study group, with a control group of the same period of time corresponding to the year 2019 at the General Hospital from the Vall d'Hebron University Hospital. RESULTS: The total population included 1,825 patients, 888 in the study group and 937 in the control group. Global surgical activity decreased 6.43% during the study period compared to the same period in 2019, with a 25.5% decrease in cancer surgeries. Seven patients became infected with SARS-CoV-2 during their hospital stay. In hospital mortality was 0.9% in the study group compared to 0.7% in control group (p=0.8). The survival rate in cancer patients at 90 days was lower in the study group (95.7% vs 98.7%; p=0.02). CONCLUSIONS: The change in the management model during the transition period of the COVID-19 pandemic allowed the recovery of programmed surgical activity to levels similar to those existing prior to the pandemic with a greater impact on cancer surgery.
