Background:The nature of COVID-19 transmission creates significant risks in surgical departments owing to the close contact of medical staff with patients, the limited physical environment of the operating room and recovery room, the possibility of shared surgical equipment and challenges in the delivery of surgical care in all surgical departments. Globally, studies have reported that the effects of the pandemic on surgical departments are profound, potentially long-lasting and extensive. To manage these effects, different local guidelines and recommendations have been developed, with potential differences in their effectiveness and implementation. Therefore, harmonized and effective national/international guidelines for specific surgical departments during perioperative periods are pertinent to curtail the infection, and will inevitably need to be adapted for consistent and sustainable implementation by all medical staff. The pattern of surgical patient care during the COVID-19 pandemic at Jimma Medical Center (JMC), Ethiopia, has not been explored yet. The present study aimed to describe the pattern of perioperative surgical patient care, equipment handling and operating room management during the COVID-19 pandemic at JMC. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted to describe the pattern of perioperative surgical patient care, equipment handling and operating room management during the COVID-19 pandemic at JMC, using five-point Likert scales (0, not at all; 1, rarely; 2, sometimes; 3, most of the time; 4, frequently). A total of 90 respondents [35 patients (five patients from each of seven surgical departments) and 55 healthcare providers (six professionals from each of nine units, including the center of sterility room and anesthesia)] who were available during the study period, selected by a convenience sampling technique with multistage clustering, participated in the study. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire via direct observation and face-to-face interviews with patients undergoing surgery, healthcare providers and hospital administrators, against the standard surgical patient care guidelines. The collected data were manually checked for missing values and outliers, cleared, entered into EpiData (v4.3.1) and exported to SPSS (v22) for analysis. The mean score of practice was compared among different disciplines by applying the unpaired t-test. The findings of the study were reported using tables and narration. A p-value of less than 0.05 was declared as statistically significant. Results: Despite the surgical care practice having changed during the COVID-19 pandemic in all service domains, it is not implemented consistently among different surgical departments owing to different barriers (lack of training on the updated guidelines and financial constraints). The majority of surgical staff were implementing the use of preventive measures against COVID-19, while they were practiced less among patients. The guidelines for surgical practice during the preoperative phase were well applie...

Background: Thyroid cancer is the most common malignant disease of endocrine system and its incidence is rapidly increasing globally (about three to four times higher among females and accounts the sixth most common malignancy diagnosed in women). Among the four major types of thyroid cancer, papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) accounts 85-90% from all thyroid cases, followed by follicular thyroid cancer (FTC) which accounts for 5-10% of cases. Objective: The present study aimed to assess the pathologic patterns of thyroid disease at Jimma medical center (JMC). Materials and Methods: A retrospective data of 260 patients who underwent thyroid surgery from 2015 to 2019 were included in the study and the status of the disease (clinical manifestations, laboratory/pathology findings (thyroid function tests (TFTs) and biopsy) were reviewed from patient cards. The pattern of thyroid cancer was discriminated based on histo-pathological biopsy results. Descriptive and analytical statistics were applied to express the finding and reported by tables, figures and narration. Cross tabulation and logistic regression was applied to determine the association between thyroid CA and its predictors. A p-value of <0.05 was declared as statistically significant. Results: From the total sample of 260 patients underwent thyroid surgery, majority of them were females 219(84.2%), belong to age interval of 31-40 years (34.6%), dwellers of Oromia region (91.2%) and Jimma zone (83.8%). Colloid goiter was the most prevalent pattern of thyroid disease (74.6%) followed by follicular CA (4.2%), papillary CA (1.9%) and medullary CA (0.77%) while biopsy results of 48(18.46%) patients were not known. In general, about 194(91.5%) of the thyroid lesion was identified as benign type and malignancy accounts for 18(8.5%) from the total conducted biopsy results of 212 patients. Five variables (marital status, family history of the disease, nodularity, surface and border of the thyroid mass) were the predictors of thyroid malignancy in univariate and finally, two variables (thyroid tissue with surface (rough) and border (irregular)) were identified as the predictors of thyroid malignancy in multivariate [1.9(95%CI; 1.17 to 5.8) P=0.012 and 2.5(95%CI; 1.13 to 16.16) P<0.001] respectively. Conclusion and Recommendation: The burden of malignancy was higher and alarming among thyroid diseases and warrants early screening and management.

Background: Thyroid cancer is the most common malignant disease of endocrine system and its incidence is rapidly increasing globally (about three to four times higher among females and accounts the sixth most common malignancy diagnosed in women). Among the four major types of thyroid cancer, papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) accounts 85-90% from all thyroid cases, followed by follicular thyroid cancer (FTC) which accounts for 5-10% of cases.Materials and Methods: A retrospective data of 260 patients who underwent thyroid surgery from 2015 to 2019 were included in the study and the status of the disease (clinical manifestations, laboratory/pathology findings (thyroid function tests (TFTs) and biopsy) were reviewed from patient cards. The pattern of thyroid cancer was discriminated based on histo-pathological biopsy result. Descriptive and analytical statistics were applied to express the finding and reported by tables, figures and narration. Cross tabulation and logistic regression was applied to determine the association between thyroid CA and predictors. A p-value of <0.05 was declared as statistically significant. Results: From the total sample of 260 patients underwent thyroid surgery, majority of them were females 219(84.2%), belong to age interval of 31-40 years (34.6%), dwellers of Oromia region (91.2%) and Jimma zone (83.8%). Colloid goiter was the most prevalent (74.6%) pattern of thyroid disease followed by follicular CA (4.2%), papillary CA (1.9%) and medullary CA (0.77%) while biopsy results of 48(18.46%) patients were not known. In general, about the 194(91.5%) of the thyroid lesion was identified as benign type and malignancy accounts for 18(8.5%) from the total conducted biopsy results of 212 patients. About six variables (duration of the disease, marital status, family history of the disease, nodularity, surface and border of the thyroid mass) were the candidate variables in binary logistic regression (p-value <0.25) and finally, three variables (duration of the disease (>10 years), surface (rough) and border (irregular) of the thyroid mass) were identified as the predictors of thyroid malignancy with AOR 0.05(0.004-0.60, P-v=0.016; 1.9(1.17-5.8), P-v=0.012 and 2.5(1.13-16.16), P-v<0.001 respectively.Conclusion and recommendation: The burden of malignancy was higher and alarming among thyroid diseases and warrants early screening and management.