SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on the activity and professionals of a General Surgery and Digestive Surgery Service in a tertiary hospital

Incidence of surgical abdominal emergencies during SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

“…In a Spanish study, three patients underwent urgent surgical intervention with SARS-CoV-2 infection at the time of surgery or developed during the postoperative period, and the three of them died from respiratory failure. 5 In our case, none of the patients undergoing surgical intervention with pre- or post-operative diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 had any complications. In this period, our global morbidity and mortality rates were 22% and 2%, respectively.…”

“…The results of our study show a 14% decrease in the number of patients who were admitted for urgent potentially surgical abdominal pathology at our hospital, and a uniform decrease was evident in both the number of total admissions as well as due to pathologies compared to previous years. Alvarez Gallego et al 5 described a decrease in activity in the emergency room of 52.7% and an increase in patients who presented peritonitis at a tertiary care hospital in the Community of Madrid. The same has occurred in other medical specialties, such as Cardiology or Neurology.…”

“…In addition, due to the recommendations of health authorities and medical organizations, together with the fears of citizens themselves, a significant decrease in consultations has been observed in ambulatory care and hospital emergency services of the Spanish National Healthcare System. 5 The delay in treatment of surgical pathologies, as well as the consequent loss of opportunity for early treatment, may be detrimental to the health of our patients.…”

Acute Care Surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain: Changes in volume, causes and complications. A multicentre retrospective cohort study

“…With the development of the COVID-19 pandemic, some authors have published their surgical experience during the pandemic [ 6 , 10 , 11 ] or have reported their protocol to treat surgical patients with COVID-19 [ [12] , [13] , [14] , [15] , [16] , [17] , [18] ]. Nevertheless, as far as we know, the reduction of ACSA observed during this pandemic has never been properly reported.…”

“…Medical and nursing staff were redistributed and outpatient clinic visits were cancelled or conducted online or by phone [ 3 , 4 ]. Departments of Surgery were, for sure, affected by these changes; elective procedures were delayed, staff members were allocated to reinforce the ICU and surgeons were reorganized in closed working groups to avoid infections between them [ 5 , 6 ]. Certainly, another one of these changes was a reduction in Acute Care Surgery Activity (ACSA).…”