Bhaskaran Deepak, Chandran Aswathy, T M Sheeja Rajan
Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Government Medical College, Kozhikode, Kerala, India.
Indian J Plast Surg. 2022 Feb 16;55(1):54-57. doi: 10.1055/s-0041-1740079. eCollection 2022 Feb.
COVID-19 has affected plastic surgeons like never before. We conducted an all-India survey to find how the practice was affected among public/private sector, reconstructive/aesthetic practice, and consultants/residents. We have proposed some solutions to the identified problems, which are supported by previous literature. A survey framed in Google forms was circulated through WhatsApp and emails in August 2020. Closed and semiopen questions regarding changes in personal and professional lives, coping strategies adopted, and open questions for suggestions in improving practice, academics and measures to tackle the pandemic were included. Responses were collected in an Excel sheet and analysis done using SPSS software. A total of 220 consented responses were obtained. Public hospital practitioners had to bear the COVID-related administrative as well as executive works, especially residents, which led to anxiety, family concern, burnout, and concern about the loss of skills and academics. Patient interaction was also reduced. Aesthetic surgeons bore more financial loss. Plastic surgeons in India faced decrease in caseload, financial loss, COVID-related duties, workload for residents, reduced academics, family and mental health problems, difficulty with personal protection equipment (PPE) during surgeries, and queries from patients. These can be solved by doing cases within the limits of protocols and safety, pooling public and private sector for COVID duties, rotating residents' groups to reduce workload, using telemedicine for academics and patient consultations, and providing social support groups to surgeons.
新冠疫情对整形外科医生的影响前所未见。我们开展了一项全印度范围的调查，以了解公立/私立部门、重建/美容手术领域以及顾问医生/住院医生的业务受到了怎样的影响。我们针对所发现的问题提出了一些解决方案，这些方案得到了以往文献的支持。2020年8月，通过谷歌表单制作的调查问卷通过WhatsApp和电子邮件进行了分发。问卷包含了关于个人和职业生活变化、所采取的应对策略的封闭式和半开放式问题，以及关于改善业务、学术水平和应对疫情措施的开放性建议问题。回复被收集到一个Excel表格中，并使用SPSS软件进行分析。共获得了220份同意参与的回复。公立医院的从业者，尤其是住院医生，不得不承担与新冠疫情相关的行政和执行工作，这导致了焦虑、家人的担忧、职业倦怠，以及对技能和学术水平下降的担忧。与患者的互动也减少了。美容外科医生遭受了更多的经济损失。印度的整形外科医生面临着病例量减少、经济损失、与新冠疫情相关的职责、住院医生工作量增加、学术水平下降、家庭和心理健康问题、手术期间个人防护装备（PPE）的困难以及患者咨询等问题。这些问题可以通过在协议和安全范围内开展手术、公私部门联合承担新冠疫情相关职责、轮换住院医生小组以减轻工作量、利用远程医疗进行学术活动和患者咨询，以及为外科医生提供社会支持小组来解决。
