Abstract
The Coronovirus Disease 2019 –(COVID-19) pandemic had a significant impact on the health care system and medical staff around the world. The orthopedic units were also subject to new restrictions and regulations. Therefore, the aim of our research was to assess how the COVID-19 pandemic affected orthopedic wards in the last year in Poland. We created an online survey, which was sent to 273 members of the Polish Society of Orthopedics and Traumatology. The survey contained 51 questions and was divided into main sections: Preparedness, Training, Stress, Reduction, Awareness. A total of 80 responses to the survey were obtained. In Preparedness section the vast majority of respondents (90%) replied, that they used personal protective equipment during the pandemic, however only 50% of the respondents indicated that their facility received a sufficient amount of personal protective equipment. Most of the respondents indicated that the pandemic negatively affected the quality of training of future orthopedists (69.4%) and that pandemic has had a negative impact on their operating skills (66,7%). In Reduction section most of the doctors indicated that the number of patients hospitalized in their departments decreased by 20–60% (61,2% respondents), while the number of operations performed decreased by 60–100% (60% respondents). The negative impact of pandemic on education was noticeable especially in the group of young orthopedic surgeons: 0–5 years of work experience (p = 0,029). Among the respondents, the level of stress increased over the last year from 4.8 to 6.9 (p <0.001). The greatest increase in the level of stress was observed among orthopedists working in country hospitals (p = 0,03). In section Awareness 36,3% of respondents feel well or very well informed about the latest Covid-19 regulations. In addition, most doctors (82.6%) believe that the Polish health care system was not well prepared to fight the pandemic and that the regulations applied so far are not sufficient to effectively fight the pandemic (66.2%). The COVID-19 pandemic has impact on orthopedics departments in Poland and negatively affected the quality of training of orthopedic surgeons and the level of stress.
Highlights
In December 2019 several cases of pneumonia caused by an unknown pathogen were reported by the Chinese government
A new variant of coronavirus was identified in infected patients with the ability to cause severe acute respiratory disease and named SARS-CoV-2, a disease caused by the virus was named Covid-19 (Coronavirus disease 2019) [1, 2]
Almost all respondents (90%, n = 72) that their workplace had implemented protective measures and a change in work organization to counter the spread of COVID-19, only 38% (n = 30) of respondents reported that staff had been divided into smaller groups to minimize the risk of infections
Summary
In December 2019 several cases of pneumonia caused by an unknown pathogen were reported by the Chinese government. A new variant of coronavirus was identified in infected patients with the ability to cause severe acute respiratory disease and named SARS-CoV-2, a disease caused by the virus was named Covid-19 (Coronavirus disease 2019) [1, 2]. The uncontrolled spread of SARS-CoV-2 was declared a global pandemic on 11.03.20 by WHO [3, 4]. The first case in Poland was documented on 4.03.2020 and shortly afterward first governmental restrictions came into life [5]. Involving a wide range of fluctuation in the realm of public life, they were supposed to restrict the spread of the pathogen. Set changes had a significant impact on public healthcare
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