Impact of COVID-19 epidemic on surgical services and operating room management

Objective To explore the impact of COVID-19 epidemic on surgical services and operating room management. Methods Weanalyzed the elective surgery volume and emergency surgery volume in the first 11 weeks of 2020 as COVID-19 epidemic,and compared with those in the same period in 2019. Results During the epidemic period,the elective surgery volume decreased from 10 294 to 2 898 (25.45±6.37 times/week vs 50.45±10.07 times/week,P<0.001),and the number of emergency surgery volume decreased from 555 to 280 (25.45±6.37 times/week vs 50.45±10.07 times/week,P<0.001).Although the total number of emergency surgerys such as cesarean section,cerebral hemorrhage and ectopic pregnancy decreased compared to that of 2019,their proportions increased,with cesarean section increasing from 29.73% to 49.64%,cerebral hemorrhage from 5.77% to 8.57%,ectopic pregnancy from 1.80% to 3.22% (all P<0.05).The total number of elective operations from general surgery department,obstetrics and gynecology department,urology department,thoracic surgery department and other departments decreased compared to 2019,but the proportion in elective surgery increased,with general surgery department increasing from 12.03% to 16.98%,obstetrics and gynecology from 6.92% to 10.73%,urology from 5.84% to 8.28%,and thoracic surgery from 6.11% to 7.38% (all P<0.05).There were great differences in the environment requirement and process of emergency surgery for the patients with suspected COVID-19 compared to the negative patients. Conclusion During the COVID-19 epidemic,the surgery volume decreases significantly,and the distribution of operations types also changes.With high requirements for infection control,the work of operating room should be arranged reasonably.