Wexner Steven D, Opelka Frank, Bailey Patrick V, Cortés-Guiral Delia
443553 Department of Colorectal Surgery, Cleveland Clinic Florida, Weston, FL, USA.
American College of Surgeons, Chicago, IL, USA.
Am Surg. 2020 Jul;86(7):757-761. doi: 10.1177/0003134820936614.
From the onset of the COVID-19 global pandemic of 2020, the American College of Surgeons (ACS) has been a leader in disseminating credible information on the clinical and scientific aspects of the disease. As governmental regulations enforced the closure of hospitals and operating rooms to elective surgical cases as part of its "shelter-in-place" public lockdown policies, the ACS brought specialty societies together to create guidelines to protect patients and preserve surgical quality. Federal agencies made available financial aid programs to mitigate the economic impact of the outbreak. The division of advocacy and health policy of the ACS made certain that the interests of surgeons and their patients were served. Steven Wexner, member of the Board of Regents of the ACS interviewed the medical directors of the division, Frank Opelka in quality and health policy, and Patrick Bailey in advocacy, for their stories of how the College responded to the many health and public policy issues that came before Congress and governmental agencies during the pandemic.
自2020年新冠疫情全球大流行开始以来，美国外科医师学会（ACS）一直处于传播有关该疾病临床和科学方面可靠信息的前沿。作为其“就地避难”公共封锁政策的一部分，政府规定医院和手术室停止接受择期手术病例，ACS召集各专业协会共同制定指南，以保护患者并维持手术质量。联邦机构提供了财政援助计划，以减轻疫情的经济影响。ACS的宣传与卫生政策部门确保外科医生及其患者的利益得到保障。ACS董事会成员史蒂文·韦克斯纳采访了该部门的医学主任，负责质量与卫生政策的弗兰克·奥佩尔卡以及负责宣传工作的帕特里克·贝利，请他们讲述学会如何应对疫情期间提交给国会和政府机构的诸多卫生和公共政策问题。
