Burnout is common among physicians and affects the quality of patient care. 1,2 Preliminary studies have shown that the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the emotional and mental wellness of healthcare workers. 3,4 Our original study aims to analyse the effect this pandemic has on burnout rates and possible reasons among all members of the orthopaedic department in Ng Teng Fong General Hospital, Singapore. This is an anonymous, questionnaire-based, crosssectional study conducted prospectively in an orthopaedic department of a tertiary hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic. From 1 to 10 April 2020, all healthcare workers within the orthopaedic department were invited via an email blast to participate in a self-administered questionnaire. The primary objective of this study is to discover the prevalence of burnout before and after the hospital's implementation of measures countering the COVID-19 pandemic. Our secondary objectives are to correlate demographic data with burnout, as well as identify the reasons for burnout. Our selection of participants consisted of the entire orthopaedic department, including 58 doctors, 70 nurses, 24 administrative staff and 4 allied healthcare staff. The questionnaires were then distributed electronically. Responses to each questionnaire item were collected in Google forms and tabulated using Microsoft Excel 2016. The questionnaire was divided into 3 sections that recorded: (1) participant demographics, (2) the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) designed for Medical Personnel and (3) questions on factors influencing burnout. The MBI is the most common validated tool used to measure physician burnout in the last 20 years. 5,6 It is a 22-item survey that measures burnout on 3 separate subscales: depersonalisation (score range of 0-30), emotional exhaustion (score range of 0-54) and low personal accomplishment (score range of 0-48). As for the reasons influencing burnout, we provided a list of possible reasons influencing burnout as well as a free response section. Participants were required to rate each reason from "not influencing burnout" to "significantly influencing burnout".
Introduction With a recent resurgence of the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases globally, an increasing number of healthcare systems are adopting telemedicine as an alternative method of healthcare delivery in a bid to decrease disease transmission. Continued care of orthopaedic patients in the outpatient setting during the coronavirus disease of 2019 era can prove challenging without a systematic workflow, adequate logistics, and careful patient selection for teleconsultation. The aim of this paper is to describe our single-centre experience with the application of telemedicine in our orthopaedic practice, and its effectiveness in maintaining outpatient follow-up of orthopaedic patients. Methodology We describe our centre's telemedicine model of care for orthopaedic patients on the outpatient follow-up – which includes workforce assembly, population health and target patients, logistics and communications, and overall workflow – with roles and responsibilities of involved people portrayed in detail. Results Feedback from both patients and orthopaedic surgeons reflected high satisfaction rates with care provided, noting minimal communication and clinical barriers compared to face-to-face consultations. Whilst not without limitations, our protocol allowed for rapid adoption of telemedicine in line with a national-wide initiative to digitize healthcare. Discussion The implementation of teleconsultation services at our orthopaedic centre has provided an effective method of healthcare delivery while enforcing social distancing measures – which proves vital in combating the spread of COVID-19 and ushering in a new normal.
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