International orthopaedics
-
The current pandemic caused by COVID-19 is the biggest challenge for national health systems for a century. While most medical resources are allocated to treat COVID-19 patients, fractures still need to be treated, as some patients with non-deferrable pathologies. The aim of this paper is to report the early experience of an integrated team of orthopaedic surgeons during this period. ⋯ Staying home during the COVID-19 pandemic decreased trauma frequency of 32%. The structural organization in our hospital allowed us to reduce the time to surgery and ultimately hospital stay, thereby maximizing the already stretched medical resources available to treat all the patients who needed orthopedic care during this period.
-
SARS-CoV-2's new scenario has forced health systems to work under extreme stress urging to perform a complete reorganization of the way our means and activities were organized. The orthopaedic and trauma units have rescheduled their activities to help SARS-CoV-2 units, but trauma patients require also treatment, and no standardized protocols have been established. ⋯ Detailed protocols should be standardized for surgical departments during the pandemic. This paper offers a general view in how this virus affects an orthopaedic unit and could serve as a protocol and example for orthopaedic and trauma units. Even in the worst scenario, an orthopaedic and trauma unit could offer an effective, efficient, and quality service. SARS-CoV-2 will set up a new paradigm for health care in orthopaedics and trauma.
-
Italy is one of the more severely affected countries in the world by the recent COVID-19 outbreak. The aim of this report is to describe how COVID-19 affected the life and organization of one of the main orthopaedic hospitals of the country, and which measures were implemented to face the outbreak. ⋯ The main lection is that any actions should be quick and decisive, for 1 week during the COVID-19 epidemic could make the difference.
-
Currently, COVID-19 has rapidly spread around the globe, there are already many nosocomial infections in medical staff. The purpose of this study is to provide some medical management experience from the orthopaedics department of Tongji Hospital in Wuhan, China, to provide reference for orthopaedists. ⋯ These experiences and strategies could help orthopedists to work safely and effectively, and prevent nosocomial infections during the global pandemic of COVID-19.
-
From February 21, the day of hospitalisation in ICU of the first diagnosed case of Covid-19, the social situation and the hospitals' organisation throughout Italy dramatically changed. ⋯ Covid-19 outbreak showed a tremendous impact on all orthopaedic trauma activities throughout the country except for the surgical treatment of femoral neck fractures, which, although reduced, did not change in percentage within the analysed timeframe.