Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Surgical Clinics

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to reveal how surgical clinics were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic based on concrete data.
 Method: In this study, the outpatient clinics of surgical branches were examined in terms of the number of presenting patients, number of visits, patient age, number of patient revisits, number of appointments made, patients’ time of arrival for their appointments, patient throughput times, number of patients that underwent surgery, and number of surgical operations performed during the COVID-19 pandemic. 
 Results: During the first year of the pandemic, concerning the number of presenting patients and number of visits, the most affected outpatient clinic was otorhinolaryngology and the least affected was gynecology and obstetrics. It was determined that the highest decrease in the mean age of patients presenting to outpatient clinics was in urology, and the lowest decrease in pediatric surgery. The patients who were the earliest to arrive for their appointments to undergo examinations were those that presented to the cardiovascular surgery clinic, while pediatric surgery patients arrived at the hospital closest to their appointment times. In the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of patients that underwent surgery decreased by 53% and the operations performed by 55% compared to the previous year.
 Conclusion: With the effect of the pandemic, there was a decrease in the number of patients that presented to the outpatient clinics of surgical branches, number of visits to these clinics, appointments made, repeated visits, patients that underwent surgery, number of operations performed, and mean age of patients.