Background:

Hospital Eva Perón in the city of Granadero Baigorria was almost exclusively dedicated to the care of COVID-19 patients; thereby, it was necessary to modify its activities, as those of the postgraduate program in General Surgery of Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Nacional de Rosario, which take place in this hospital. The aim of this study is to describe the changes made and the performance of the postgraduate program in general surgery at HEEP during the COVID-19 pandemic, and its impact on trainees’ education.

Material and methods:

We conducted a descriptive study comparing the period between March 20, 2020, and September 30, 2020, with the same period in 2019. The variables analyzed included number of surgeries, hours spent in hospital, number of in-house call shifts, activities in the outpatient clinic and evaluation of patients, theoretical seminars, attendance to classes of the postgraduate programs and research work.

Results:

The total number of surgeries decreased by 74.88%, scheduled surgeries by 85.59% and emergency surgeries by 63.19%. The numbers of in-house call shifts of PGY-1, PGY-2 and PGY-3 residents decreased but not those of PGY-4 residents. The hours spent in hospital decreased in all the trainees. The number of patients hospitalized decreased by 74.06% and there was a reduction in all the activities of the outpatient clinics. The academic activities, performed non-face-to-face, increased.

Conclusion:

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected trainees’ education in the postgraduate program in General Surgery at HEEP. Non-traditional teaching methods were used for updating and discussing scientific papers.