How the COVID-19 pandemic changed the Plastic Surgery activity in a regional referral center in Northern Italy

Pignatti, Marco; Miralles, Maria Elisa Lozano; Giorgini, Federico A.; Cannamela, Giacomo; Cipriani, Riccardo

doi:10.1016/j.bjps.2020.05.002

Cited by 25 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 21 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Studies from Brazil and Italy indicated decreased numbers of both facial and hand trauma and a significant reduction in the number of surgeries performed 6,7 . These findings were similar to other studies from European countries 8,9 . Contrary to other descriptions, another study demonstrated significant increase in the number of hand and wrist injuries requiring operative management 10 .…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 77%

“…Furthermore, fear of contracting the disease by presenting to a potentially crowded emergency department could have also served as a barrier, as previously noted by another study 13 . Centres in the USA, Italy and Spain experienced a similar reduction in plastic surgery trauma admissions 6,8,9 . In contrast, a UK study showed no changes in the volume of traumatic injuries requiring plastic surgery operations during the lockdown period, although they did utilize the emergency department of their institution to perform cases that would conventionally have been treated by emergency staff 14 …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Effects of COVID‐19 lockdown measures on emergency plastic and reconstructive surgery presentations

Cordova

Savage

Ram

et al. 2021

ANZ Journal of Surgery

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background In Australia, the COVID‐19 pandemic has caused severe social disruptions, including restrictions to the movement of people. Healthcare centres around the world have seen changes in the nature of injuries acquired during the COVID‐19 pandemic; we therefore hypothesize that social isolation measures have changed the pattern of plastic and reconstructive surgery presentations. Methods A prospective cohort study was designed comparing patient presentations during the enforced COVID‐19 lockdown to two previous periods. All emergency referrals requiring operative intervention by the plastic and reconstructive surgery unit of our institution were included. Patient demographics, place and mechanism of injury, drug and alcohol involvement, delays to presentation, length of admission and complication rates were collected. Results Demographics and complication rates were similar across all groups. A 31.8% reduction in total number of emergency cases was seen during the lockdown period. Increase in do‐it‐yourself injuries ( P = 0.001), bicycle injuries ( P = 0.001) and injuries acquired via substance abuse ( P = 0.041) was observed. Head and neck injuries, mostly due to animal bites and falls, were also more prevalent compared to the same period the previous year ( P = 0.007). As expected, over 80% of plastic surgery operations during the COVID‐19 period were due to injuries acquired at home, a significant increase compared to previous periods. Conclusion Despite changes in the pattern of presentations requiring plastic and reconstructive emergency surgery, traumatic injuries continued to occur during the pandemic. Thus, planning will be essential to ensure resource allocation for emergency procedures is sustained as second and third waves of COVID‐19 cases emerge worldwide.

show abstract

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 77%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Effects of COVID‐19 lockdown measures on emergency plastic and reconstructive surgery presentations

Cordova

Savage

Ram

et al. 2021

ANZ Journal of Surgery

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…A similar re-organization was also carried out for plastic surgery: only post-traumatic, oncological and burn treatments were guaranteed. 130–132 A new approach based on enzymatic debridement was proposed for burns in order to reduce the need for burn surgery. 67…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on healthcare provision in Italy to non-COVID patients: a systematic review

Lugli

Ottaviani

Botta

et al. 2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: Italy has been one of the countries most affected by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and the regional healthcare system has had to quickly adapt its organization to meet the needs of infected patients. This has led to a drastic change in the routine management of non-communicable diseases with a potential long-term impact on patient health care. We investigated the management of non-COVID-19 patients across all medical specialties during the pandemic in Italy. Methods: A PRISMA guideline-based systematic review of the available literature was performed using PubMed, Embase, and Scopus, restricting the search to the main outbreak period in Italy (from 20 February to 22 June, 2020). We selected articles in English or Italian that detailed changes in the Italian hospital care for non-COVID-19 patients due to the pandemic. Our keywords included all medical specialties in combination with our geographical focus (Italy) and COVID-19. Findings: Of the 4643 potentially eligible studies identified by the search, 247 studies were included in the systematic review. A decrease in the management of emergencies in non-COVID patients was found together with an increase in mortality. Similarly, non-deferrable conditions met a tendency toward decreased diagnosis. All specialties have been affected by the reorganization of healthcare provision in the hub-and-spoke system and have benefited from telemedicine during the pandemic. Interpretation: Our work highlights the changes taking place in the Italian public healthcare system in order to tackle the developing health crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings of our review may be useful to analyze future directions for the healthcare system in the case of new pandemic scenarios.

show abstract

“…Face-to-face consultations were significantly reduced and outside of urgent or trauma settings and in many areas of elective practice, placed on hold entirely in an attempt to reduce the spread of disease between doctor and patient, resulting in significant restrictions to outpatient care [ 1 ]. Similar to allied medical specialties, plastic surgeons have made use of virtual consultations (VCons) to provide continued access to medical care whilst maintaining the rules of government lockdown [ 2 ]. VCons have been used to consult new patients and to reduce anticipated strain upon resumption of normal services by allowing surgeons to manage patients remotely [ 3 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Virtual Consultations in Plastic Surgery During COVID-19 Lockdown

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background COVID-19 has led to government enforced ‘lockdown’ in the UK severely limiting face-to-face patient interaction. Virtual consultations present a means for continued patient access to health care. Our aim was to evaluate the use of virtual consultations (VCons) during lockdown and their possible role in the future. Methods An anonymous survey was disseminated to UK and European plastic surgeons via social media, email sharing and via the European Association of Societies of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery newsletter. Uptake of VCons, modality, effectiveness, safety and future utility were assessed. Results Forty-three senior plastic surgeons responded to the survey. The majority of the respondents (97.7%) reported using VCons during COVID-19 lockdown, of which 74.4% had no prior experience. Two-thirds of surgeons utilised commercial platforms such as Zoom, FaceTime and Skype, 38.1% of respondents did not know about or were unsure about adequate encryption for health care use, and just under a half (47.6%) reported they were unaware of or lacking GDPR compliance. Most (97.6%) say they are likely to use virtual consultations after lockdown. Conclusion Virtual consultations have had a crucial role in patient care during UK lockdown. It is clear that they will serve as an adjunct to face-to-face consultation in the future. Further regulation is required to ensure platforms offer adequate safety and security measures and are compliant with relevant data protection laws. Level of Evidence IV This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266 . Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s00266-020-01932-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

show abstract

How the COVID-19 pandemic changed the Plastic Surgery activity in a regional referral center in Northern Italy

Cited by 25 publications

References 21 publications

Effects of COVID‐19 lockdown measures on emergency plastic and reconstructive surgery presentations

Effects of COVID‐19 lockdown measures on emergency plastic and reconstructive surgery presentations

The impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on healthcare provision in Italy to non-COVID patients: a systematic review

The Role of Virtual Consultations in Plastic Surgery During COVID-19 Lockdown

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About