Department of Hepatology, Gastroenterology and Liver Transplantation, National Liver Institute, Menoufia University, Shebine Elkom 32511, Egypt.
Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Alexandria, Alexandria 21521, Egypt.
World J Gastroenterol. 2020 Nov 21;26(43):6880-6890. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v26.i43.6880.
The current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has affected routine endoscopy service across the gastroenterology community. This led to the suspension of service provision for elective cases.
To assess the potential barriers for resuming the endoscopy service in Egypt.
A national online survey, four domains, was disseminated over a period of 4 wk in August 2020. The primary outcome of the survey was to determine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the endoscopy service and barriers to the full resumption of a disabled center(s).
A hundred and thirteen Egyptian endoscopy centers participated in the survey. The waiting list was increased by ≥ 50% in 44.9% of areas with clusters of COVID-19 cases ( = 49) and in 35.5% of areas with sporadic cases ( = 62). Thirty nine (34.8%) centers suffered from staff shortage, which was considered a barrier against service resumption by 86.4% of centers in per-protocol analysis. In multivariate analysis, the burden of cases in the unit locality, staff shortage/recovery and the availability of separate designated rooms for COVID-19 cases could markedly affect the resumption of endoscopy practice ( = 0.029, < 0.001 and 0.02, respectively) and Odd's ratio (0.15, 1.8 and 0.16, respectively).
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to restrictions in endoscopic volumes. The staff shortage/recovery and the availability of COVID-19 designed rooms are the most important barriers against recovery. Increasing working hours and dividing endoscopy staff into teams may help to overcome the current situation.
当前的 2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行已经影响了整个消化内科的常规内镜服务。这导致了择期病例服务的暂停。
评估埃及恢复内镜服务的潜在障碍。
2020 年 8 月，在四周的时间内，进行了一项全国性的在线调查，涵盖四个领域。该调查的主要结果是确定 COVID-19 大流行对内镜服务的影响以及恢复一个（多个）残疾中心的障碍。
113 家埃及内镜中心参与了这项调查。在 COVID-19 病例集群（=49）的 44.9%地区和散发病例（=62）的 35.5%地区，待处理病例数增加了≥50%。39 家（34.8%）中心存在人员短缺问题，在按方案分析中，有 86.4%的中心认为这是恢复服务的障碍。多变量分析显示，单位所在地的病例负担、人员短缺/恢复情况以及为 COVID-19 病例提供单独指定房间的情况，可能会显著影响内镜实践的恢复（=0.029，<0.001 和 0.02，分别）和优势比（0.15、1.8 和 0.16，分别）。
COVID-19 大流行导致内镜检查量受到限制。人员短缺/恢复情况以及是否有 COVID-19 设计的房间是恢复的最大障碍。增加工作时间和将内镜工作人员分成小组可能有助于克服当前的情况。
