Surgical Protocols before and after COVID-19—A Narrative Review

Abstract

The COVID-19 epidemic has affected not only people’s daily lives but also the working methods of clinicians, surgical procedures, open/minimally invasive procedures, operating room management, patient and healthcare worker safety, education and training. The main objective of this study was to review selected articles and determine the changes in the general surgery protocols/procedures before and after the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. The literature was carried out in PubMed-Medline, Cochrane Library, Embase, Scopus and Google Scholar. The terms utilised for the searches were “SARS-CoV-2”, “Surgery”, “COVID-19”, “Surgical protocol”, “Surgical recommendations” and “before and after”. A total of 236 studies were identified, out of which 41 studies were included for data extraction. Significant changes in all the articles were observed with respect to the surgeries done before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, the number of elective surgeries were considerably fewer in comparison to the pre-pandemic period. Since the COVID-19 pandemic started, hospitals all throughout the world have conducted significantly fewer procedures, particularly elective/non-urgent surgeries.

COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy among the General Population: A Cross-Sectional Study

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Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Elective and Emergency Surgeries, and Postoperative Mortality in a Brazilian Metropolitan Area: A Time-Series Cohort Study

“…3 Consequently, the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted elective and emergency surgeries worldwide, leading to cancellations or delays, and procedures initially deemed elective may have transitioned into emergency matters. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] In addition to the resource constraints during the pandemic, surgeries typically involve close and personal contact between surgeons and their patients that differs from those encountered by non-surgical specialists. 6 In this way, the risk of COVID-19 transmission necessitated additional safety measures such as testing, preoperative quarantines, and cleaning protocols.…”

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] In addition to the resource constraints during the pandemic, surgeries typically involve close and personal contact between surgeons and their patients that differs from those encountered by non-surgical specialists. 6 In this way, the risk of COVID-19 transmission necessitated additional safety measures such as testing, preoperative quarantines, and cleaning protocols. These measures added complexity and cost to the surgical process.…”

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