COVID-19 Pandemic and JBJS.

Abstract

We are collectively in a situation in which we have no experience and for which we have limited preparation. With the Coronavirus pandemic, our worldwide medical community faces its biggest challenge in modern history. Patients and medical colleagues alike generally do not think of those of us who practice musculoskeletal medicine, surgery, and rehabilitation as essential components of the health-care system. However, when 40% of primary-care visits are related to the musculoskeletal system, we definitely play a large role in meeting patient needs. With the cancellation or delay of all elective surgical procedures and the limiting of outpatient visits to orthopaedic, PT, and OT providers, we have been set aside to some degree. The backlog will be enormous when restrictions are lifted, and it is likely that concerns regarding dissemination of the virus will persist for some time. More importantly, emergency/urgent procedures need to be carried out for the benefit of the patient. In order to provide the orthopaedic community with the most up-to-the-day relevant information, we have been accelerating the peer-review process to get important scientific manuscripts posted online within 4 to 5 days after receipt. For this extraordinary effort, I want to thank our authors, reviewers, and, most of all, copy-editing team. We are providing up-to-the-week systematic reviews in collaboration with OrthoEvidence; clinical experiences from Wuhan, China; and well-considered opinion pieces such as “What’s Important” contributions to the JBJS Orthopaedic Forum. We will continue to provide the information as fast as the review and editing processes can be conducted in order to assure our readers that the information is sound and reliable. Articles related to the Coronavirus pandemic will be first posted on the JBJS home page under the heading “COVID-19 and Orthopaedic Surgery” and will appear in print in the earliest possible issue. We invite the community of providers working in the musculoskeletal field to look to JBJS for the most current and reliable information regarding issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic.