Objectives: To evaluate the impact of coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) pandemic and its consequences on general surgery residents. Methods: Cross-sectional, survey based study including surgical residents in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Kingdom of Bahrain. Results: Surgical trainees who participated in our survey (n=234) were young (mean age 28), single (53.8%), and males (65.8%). Approximately half (50.4%) have been deployed to cover the staff shortage in intensive care units (ICUs) or emergency departments (EDs). Half of our trainees (117) scored positive in the screening tool of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). There was a significant association between experiencing anxiety and male gender ( p =0.055), level of training ( p =0.002), deployment to cover ICUs ( p =0.050), testing positive for COVID-19 ( p =0.054) and having an infected family member ( p =0.004). Conclusion: Coronavirus-19 pandemic has a serious effect on all healthcare workers and surgical residents have experienced a considerable amount of stress. Accordingly, this psychological burden should be appropriately addressed in organizations planning strategies. We suggest formulating guidelines to help surgical trainees to continue their learning process with least psychological burden.
BACKGROUND: Diabetic foot ulcers (DFU) are a critical complication of diabetes mellitus (DM) affecting life quality and significantly impacting healthcare resources. OBJECTIVE: Determine the direct medical costs associated with treating DFU in King Fahad Hospital of the University and identify factors that could assist in developing resource management guidelines in Saudi Arabia. DESIGN: Retrospective study. SETTING: SETTING: King Fahad Hospital of the University, Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The study included diabetic patients admitted with foot ulcerations between 2007 and 2017 inclusive. We determined management costs including drug usage, wound dressings, surgical procedures, admissions, and basic investigation. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Factors affecting the direct perspective medical costs of managing DFU. SAMPLE SIZE: 99 patients. RESULTS: The overall cost of managing 99 patients with DFU was 6 618 043.3 SAR ($1 764 632.68 USD), which further translates to approximately 6684.9 SAR per patient/year ($1782.6 USD). The highest cost incurred was for admission expenditure (45.6%), followed by debridement (14.5%) and intensive care unit (ICU) admission (10.4%). CONCLUSION: The overall healthcare expenditure in treating DFU is high, with hospital admissions and surgical procedures adding a significant increase to the total cost. Focused patient education on overall glycemic control and prevention of DFU may decrease complications and hence, the overall cost. LIMITATIONS: Identified only the direct medical costs of DFU as the indirect costs were subjective and more difficult to quantify. CONFLICT OF INTEREST: None.
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