Abstract
BackgroundThe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has taken the world by storm, especially the health care system. Medical practitioners of all specialties are being assigned to treat patients of COVID-19. In this article, two authors (T.V. and N.G.) from the Department of Neurosurgery who were deployed in the COVID-19 testing ward between April 25 and May 31, 2020 share their experience.MethodsA prospective observational study was conducted including all those who were admitted in this ward. The patients were studied according to their demographic profiles, diagnoses, admitting departments, travel history, and presence/absence of COVID-19–related symptoms. Relevant history regarding occupation, contact with patient with known COVID-19, and comorbid illness was noted. Those who tested positive for COVID-19 were studied further. The data from the institute’s official record were updated until August 14, 2020.ResultsDuring the study period, there were 256 admissions in the ward, of whom 148 (92 male, 56 female) were patients and 108 were patients’ attendants/relatives. Most patients were admitted under the departments of internal medicine (33, 22.3%) and general surgery (19, 12.8%). Of 148 patients, 46 (31.1%) were admitted as they were planned for a surgery/intervention. Among 148 patients, 29 (19.6%) had history of travel to or were residents of a red zone, 4 (2.7%) had history of contact with a confirmed case of COVID-19, whereas 6 (4.1%) were health care workers. One hundred four patients (70.2%) showed no COVID-19–related symptoms. Thirty-four patients (22.9%) had associated comorbid conditions. Eight patients (5 male, 3 female) with mean age of 37.6 years (range 4–69 years) tested positive for COVID-19.ConclusionsThe authors share their experience and their institute’s protocol in various facets during this war against COVID-19 pandemic. Preadmission and presurgical testing of patients is important in preventing the spread of the disease amongst health care workers.
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