The Early Effect of COVID-19 Restrictions on an Academic Orthopedic Surgery Department.

The Early Effect of COVID-19 Restrictions on an Academic Orthopedic Surgery Department. Orthopedics. 2020 Jul 01;43(4):228-232 Authors: Earp BE, Zhang D, Benavent KA, Byrne L, Blazar PE Abstract The SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a global influence on health care. The authors examined the early effect of hospital- and state-mandated restrictions on an orthopedic surgery department and hypothesized that the volume of ambulatory clinic encounters, office and surgical procedures, and cases would dramatically decrease. A retrospective review was performed of all encounters in an orthopedic surgery department at a level I academic trauma center during a 4-week period, from March 16, 2020, to April 12, 2020. The results were compared with two control 4-week periods, February 17, 2020, to March 15, 2020, and March 16, 2019, to April 12, 2019. Weekly volume and work relative value units (RVUs) of clinic encounters, office and surgical procedures, and cases were assessed. The type of ambulatory visit also was recorded. Comparisons of mean weekly volume and RVUs between the study and control periods were performed with Student's t test. Surgical cases were categorized into fracture or dislocation, acute soft tissue or nerve injury, infection, oncology, and elective or nonurgent. After implementation of hospital- and state-mandated restrictions on elective health care, the volume of ambulatory orthopedic surgery clinic encounters decrea...
Source: Orthopedics - Category: Orthopaedics Authors: Tags: Orthopedics Source Type: research