Surgical Division, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Nottinghamshire NG5 1PB, UK.
School of Health Sciences, University of Nottingham, Nottinghamshire NG7 2RD, UK.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 May 3;19(9):5542. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19095542.
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in significant delays to non-urgent elective surgery. Decision making regarding prioritisation for surgery is currently informed primarily by clinical urgency. The ways in which decision making should also consider potential social and economic harm arising from surgical delay are currently unclear. This scoping review aimed to identify evidence related to (i) the nature and prevalence of social and economic harm experienced by patients associated with delayed surgery, and (ii) any patient assessment tools that could measure the extent of, or predict, such social and economic harm. A rapid scoping review was undertaken following JBI methodological guidance. The following databases were searched in October 2020: AMED; BNI; CINAHL; EMBASE; EMCARE; HMIC; Medline; PsychINFO, Cochrane, and the JBI. A total of 21 publications were included. The findings were categorised into five themes: (i) employment, (ii) social function and leisure, (iii) finances, (iv) patients' experiences of waiting, and (v) assessment tools that could inform decision making. The findings suggest that, for some patients, waiting for surgery can include significant social, economic, and emotional hardship. Few validated assessment tools exist. There is an urgent need for more research on patients' experiences of surgical delay in order to inform a more holistic process of prioritising people on surgical waiting lists in the COVID-19 pandemic recovery stages.
COVID-19 大流行导致非紧急择期手术大量延迟。目前，手术优先级的决策主要依据临床紧急程度。然而，目前尚不清楚决策还应如何考虑手术延迟带来的潜在社会和经济危害。本范围综述旨在确定与以下方面相关的证据：(i) 与手术延迟相关的患者所经历的社会和经济危害的性质和普遍性，以及 (ii) 任何可衡量或预测这种社会和经济危害程度的患者评估工具。本研究采用 JBI 方法学指南进行快速范围综述。2020 年 10 月在以下数据库中进行了检索：AMED；BNI；CINAHL；EMBASE；EMCARE；HMIC；Medline；PsychINFO、Cochrane 和 JBI。共纳入 21 篇文献。研究结果分为五个主题：(i) 就业，(ii) 社会功能和休闲，(iii) 财务，(iv) 患者等待的体验，以及 (v) 可用于决策的评估工具。研究结果表明，对于一些患者来说，等待手术可能会带来重大的社会、经济和情感困难。目前存在的验证性评估工具很少。迫切需要对患者在 COVID-19 大流行恢复期等待手术时的体验进行更多研究，以便为更全面地确定手术等候名单上人员的优先级提供信息。
