Successful prioritisation of inguinal herniotomies in children during the COVID-19 pandemic to minimise emergency presentations.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) disrupted the delivery of elective surgery in children. We introduced guidance to mitigate this impact. By reviewing the outcomes for inguinal herniotomies, we aimed to determine if this guidance has enabled us to prevent an increase in the elective surgery wait time and therefore the need for emergency surgery for incarcerated hernias. This report aims to share our learnt lessons about responding to a crisis limiting accessibility to elective surgery.

Results

We performed a retrospective review of all elective and emergency herniotomies performed between April 1 and September 30, 2019 (pre-COVID-19) and the same period in 2020 (post-COVID-19). We compared the data on wait time from referral to clinic review/elective surgery

SUBMITTER: Marei MM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10149152 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature