COVID-19: How can a department of general surgery survive in a pandemic?

Roadmap for Restarting Elective Surgery During/After COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Guidelines and checklists for same are available and include a comprehensive list of considerations before resuming elective services. These encompass assessing surgical workload and patient population, ensuring adequate hospital capacity and facilities, supporting the surgical workforce with their protection and mental needs, and continuously supporting training in the face of rapidly changing scenario [9,47].…”

Organizaciones saludables y resilientes: Implementación de Protocolos de Riesgos Laborales Como Factor Clave para Recuperar Actividades Presenciales ante el COVID-19

“…Pacientes que presentaron confirmación de COVID-19 precisan un tratamiento inaplazable por lo que la adopción de medidas especiales disminuye la posibilidad de contagio entre pacientes, exposición del personal sanitario y el desarrollo de complicaciones médicas (Balibrea et al, 2020). Una reorganización en las empresas en este caso es inmediata y se la necesita para evitar más propagación la participación de equipos y uso eficiente de recursos (Guerci et al, 2020).…”

COVID-19 and surgical training in Italy: Residents and young consultants perspectives from the battlefield

“…The surgical departments have been heavily involved in this reorganization leading to the suspension of the surgical activity with the exception of emergencies and oncological elective activity. 3 Similar measures have been taken in several countries and in some cases are particularly restrictive (e.g in Maryland), so scientific societies are issuing guidelines, often disease-specific, in order to help surgeons to better plan surgical activity. 4 Also the admission of patients to the surgical department has been completely revised: patients receive a telephone triage before admission in order to look for any suspicious symptoms for COVID-19 (fever or respiratory symptoms), moreover, when admitted, they are subjected to a nasopharyngeal swab and chest x-ray, then are all hospitalized in a single room and only one visitor is allowed with the obligation to wear a mask and gloves.…”

“…4 Also the admission of patients to the surgical department has been completely revised: patients receive a telephone triage before admission in order to look for any suspicious symptoms for COVID-19 (fever or respiratory symptoms), moreover, when admitted, they are subjected to a nasopharyngeal swab and chest x-ray, then are all hospitalized in a single room and only one visitor is allowed with the obligation to wear a mask and gloves. 3 The surgical staff, due to contact with patients and other healthcare workers, is an important vehicle of contagion within the hospital, so the personnel is subjected to daily measurement of body temperature at the entrance and if higher than 99,5 F or respiratory symptoms are present, the healthcare professional is placed in quarantine and subjected to a swab for SARS-CoV-2. Similar organization has been undertaken in several other countries in order to minimize the risk of contagion in hospital facilities.…”