Wound Care Team, Surgery & Critical Care Program, Unity Health Toronto - St. Michael's Hospital, 30 Bond Street, Toronto, ON, M5B 1W8, Canada.
Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, Unity Health Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
J Foot Ankle Res. 2022 Jun 24;15(1):49. doi: 10.1186/s13047-022-00555-2.
The COVID-19 pandemic has directly affected the delivery of health care services in Canada, including foot care. The goal of this descriptive study was to understand the impact of the early COVID-19 pandemic (March 2020 to April 2021) on chiropodists' and podiatrists' clinical practices and foot care service delivery in Ontario, Canada.
A web-survey was completed by participating chiropodists and podiatrists registered with the College of Chiropodists of Ontario. The survey consisted of 31 multiple choice and open-ended items on clinical practice characteristics, foot care service delivery changes, perceived barriers during the pandemic, and its impact on clinicians. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize the sample and examine clinicians' responses, and qualitative content analysis was used to explore opened-ended items.
Of the 773 eligible clinicians, 279 participated for a response rate of 36.1%. Most respondents reported a decline in patient volume, an increase in urgent foot health problems, a financial impact on their clinical practices, an emotional impact, and substantial changes to how they provided foot care services, such as incorporating telehealth/virtual care into patient care. Factors that impact clinicians' perception of future pandemic preparedness are identified.
This study describes foot care service delivery in Ontario, Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic saw an increase in urgent foot health problems, decline in patient volume, and impacted clinicians' mental health and emotional well-being. Future studies should examine patients' experiences of foot care service delivery and maintaining their foot health during the pandemic, and further examination of factors that impact clinicians' perception of pandemic preparedness.
COVID-19 大流行直接影响了加拿大的医疗保健服务提供，包括足部护理。本描述性研究的目的是了解 COVID-19 大流行早期（2020 年 3 月至 2021 年 4 月）对安大略省足病医生和足病医生临床实践和足部护理服务提供的影响。
安大略省足病医生学院的参与足病医生和足病医生完成了一项网络调查。该调查包括 31 个关于临床实践特征、足部护理服务提供变化、大流行期间感知到的障碍以及对临床医生的影响的多项选择题和开放式问题。使用描述性统计数据来描述样本并检查临床医生的反应，并使用定性内容分析来探索开放式问题。
在 773 名符合条件的临床医生中，有 279 名参与了调查，回应率为 36.1%。大多数受访者报告患者数量减少，紧急足部健康问题增加，临床实践受到财务影响，情绪受到影响，以及提供足部护理服务的方式发生了重大变化，例如将远程医疗/虚拟护理纳入患者护理。确定了影响临床医生对未来大流行准备情况看法的因素。
本研究描述了 COVID-19 大流行期间安大略省的足部护理服务提供情况。COVID-19 大流行导致紧急足部健康问题增加，患者数量减少，影响了临床医生的心理健康和情绪健康。未来的研究应检查患者在大流行期间对足部护理服务提供的体验以及维持足部健康的情况，并进一步研究影响临床医生对大流行准备情况看法的因素。
