Abstract
Background: The Covid 19 was declared a global pandemic that had a sizeable impact on the health care services in the surgical field including the orthopaedic department. There was additionally a decreased accessibility to healthcare personnel and facilities reallocated to manage the Covid patients. The study was mainly conducted to find out the impact of the first wave of COVID-19 on the orthopaedic surgeries.
 Aim: The main aim of the study is to find out the alteration in the number, type of surgeries, financial implications, duration of hospital stay, delay in surgery during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
 Study Design: Retrospective crossectional study.
 Methods: All the surgeries conducted in the orthopaedic department in the year 2019 and 2020 following first peak in March including pre-op and post-op COVID cases are included in the study. The procedure conducted, date of admission, date of surgery, date of discharge, investigations done and the cost expenses are the various parameters that are taken into consideration. The results are analysed for each year and comparisons are made using statistical methods.
 Results: The comparative analysis of the data collected from the years 2019 and 2020 showed an increase in the duration of hospital stay, delay in surgery, additional expenditure, back log in the number of elective surgeries done during the Pandemic.
Highlights
Covid 19 caused by a novel coronavirus, SARS COV -2 was declared a pandemic by WHO on March 11, 2020 [1]
COVID-19 had the least impact on Trauma procedures (Both Upper limb and Lower limb fracture fixations) with a 47.21% reduction and it had the maximum impact on the elective procedures -Arthroscopy, Replacements, Spinal procedures and Injections which showed a significant 68.85%, 70.88%, 80.59% and 89.64% reduction respectively
The maximum duration of hospital stay in the year 2019 was 25 days while in 2020 it was more than 30 days. 20.32% were discharged within 6 days in 2019 while in 2020 only 8.41% were discharged within 6 days indicating a lengthened hospital stay
Summary
Covid 19 caused by a novel coronavirus, SARS COV -2 was declared a pandemic by WHO on March 11, 2020 [1]. The pandemic created a severe economic crisis which had a direct impact on the incomes that caused people to reduce their out of pocket expenditure on treatment procedures All these had a negative impact on the health care services in the surgical field especially the orthopaedic department where the procedures fall in both elective and emergency category. The health care system was re organised in such a way that aimed at delaying non urgent procedures to reallocate the available health resources to the Covid 19 patients [2] This resulted in a significant backlog in the number of elective surgeries conducted. Methods: All the surgeries conducted in the orthopaedic department in the year 2019 and 2020 following first peak in March including pre-op and post-op COVID cases are included in the study.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
