Strategy for Return to General Surgical Elective Surgeries in Controlled COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

In these days when the COVID-19 pandemic was under control, a strategy was intended to be developed in the light of international literature to safely return to routine surgical activities and elective surgical operations. For related research articles, a literature review was conducted in all of PubMed, Wos, Google Scholar, Elsevier, Scopus, EBSCO indexes. In addition, the World Health Organization, Ministry of Health, COVID-19 declaration of the scientific board, Turkish Surgical Association, Turkish Society of Colon and Rectal Surgery, Turkish Medical Association, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, the American Association of Surgeons, the European Union and other relevant information on the websites of the state health agency was searched. The focus was mainly on high-quality studies and on patient flow and safety of health workers during outpatient and elective surgery practices. The scattered information and limited number of literature in the above-mentioned sites, the information and personal experiences obtained from the studies were presented as a strategic algorithm. In the covid-19 crisis, there is a serious elective surgery burden, as elective surgery operations in both the outpatient clinic and the operating room have abruptly ceased. Since it is not possible to remove this load at once, a phased start scenario needs to be planned. The exact timing depends largely on factors beyond our control. Once the restrictions are terminated, clinical and surgical volume will gradually increase. Therefore, it will be necessary to prioritize cases by categorizing them.

Keywords

• surgical
• covid-19
• elective
• pandemic