How have the obstetricians and gynecologists struggled in the clinics during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Abstract

As all branches of the medicine, the obstetrical and gynecological clinical approach has been greatly affected by the pandemic. In our study, we aimed to reveal the effect of the pandemic on current obstetrics and gynecologic clinical approach and urgency/semi-urgency evaluations of physicians related with both obstetrical and gynecological cases. The obstetricians in Turkey from different hospitals and clinics have completed our online questionnaire-based survey using ‘docs.google.com’. The survey questionnaire was created in three sections: Demographic, occupational analysis and thoughts about outbreak, clinical approach scale and clinical urgency scale. SPSS 22 program was used to analyze the validity and reliability of the scales. The outbreak has affected the clinical approach according to our study. The effect degree was 3.79, 3.15, 3.72 respectively at clinical effect, clinical functioning and struggle and prevention. The specialists regardless of the year in the occupation were more affected than research assistants in terms of clinical effect (p=0.017) and also postponed obstetrical (p=0.000) and gynecological (p=0.000) conditions more frequently. As the effect of the pandemic on clinical functioning increases, the delay of gynecological cases increases. With the postponement of obstetrics cases, the probability of delaying gynecological cases increases. In the current study, it was concluded that the pandemic has affected the clinical approach in obstetrics and gynecology clinics. We think that the study will help in determining our approach to obstetrical and gynecological cases in the future. Scenarios should be made patient-centered without neglecting the burden and possible damages on healthcare professionals.