Abstract

RICCIARDI, Guillermo A. et al. Impacto de la pandemia de la COVID-19 en el funcionamiento de un servicio público de Ortopedia y Traumatología: nuestro aprendizaje luego de la primera ola. Rev. Asoc. Argent. Ortop. Traumatol. [online]. 2021, vol.86, n.6, pp.716-726. ISSN 1852-7434.  http://dx.doi.org/https://doi.org/10.15417/issn.1852-7434.2021.86.6.1341.

Introduction: Our aim was to compare our activity in the Orthopedics and Traumatology service during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and Methods: Ambispective longitudinal observational analytical study of patients treated in the Orthopedics and Traumatology Service of a public health hospital of Buenos Aires during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The primary outcome variable was the total number of surgeries performed during the study period. Results: The pandemic was associated with fewer total surgeries (p = 0.002), emergency department surgeries (p = 0.000) and elective surgeries (p = 0.002). Total surgeries were reduced by 81.5%. Emergency surgeries accounted for 97%, a significant difference with the non-pandemic period (p = 0.080). Additionally, the average number of surgeries per available surgical day was significantly lower (p = 0.000). Conclusions: We believe that, under the regulations indicated by the national and regional pandemic contingency plan, the care of orthopedic pathology and musculoskeletal trauma was notoriously lower than our usual performance. Although we responded adequately to the emergencies of our specialty, the possibility of stratifying and considering types of patients with conditions that could be treated gradually during the pandemic remains pending.

Keywords : COVID-19; orthopaedics and traumatology; epidemiology; activity.

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