Kumar Sunil, Jain Anil K, Maroof Khan A, Aggarwal Aditya N, Arora Rajesh, Dhammi Ish K, Gupta Himanshu
Orthopaedics, University College of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, IND.
Community Medicine, University College of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, IND.
Cureus. 2023 Aug 24;15(8):e44074. doi: 10.7759/cureus.44074. eCollection 2023 Aug.
Purpose On resumption of routine services post-lockdown during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), we expected a backlog of orthopaedic patients who could not get appropriate and timely care and would now present with complications due to missed or delayed treatment. This study aimed to quantify the effect of COVID-19 on the burden and profile of orthopaedic patients admitted post-resumption of routine services. Materials and methods Data on all the patients admitted to the orthopaedic department were collected using an interviewer-administered schedule for a complete one-year period after the resumption of routine orthopaedic services in a tertiary care hospital in Delhi. For comparison of the burden of trauma patients with that during the pre-COVID-19 period, data were obtained from a similar study done on trauma patients in 2017 at the same institution. For patients with non-traumatic conditions, previous hospital records were used. Results A total of 1585 patients were admitted during the one-year period post-resumption of routine services following COVID-19 restrictions, which was 41% less than that compared to the corresponding pre-COVID-19 data. The proportion of patients from other neighbouring states showed a decline from 52% in the pre-COVID-19 period to 41.55% when healthcare services resumed during the COVID-19 period. Out of all admitted trauma patients in 2021, 12.7% presented with a missed or complication of treatment as compared to 3.1% in the pre-COVID period. Around half of them (52.5%) attributed their complications to a COVID-19-related lockdown. Conclusion There was a significant decline in the number of patients post-resumption of routine orthopaedic care services. Converting whole tertiary care teaching hospitals to COVID-19-dedicated hospitals must not be done as it leads to an increase in missed or complication of orthopaedic treatment.
目的 在2019年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）封锁结束后恢复常规服务时，我们预计会有一批积压的骨科患者，他们无法获得适当和及时的治疗，现在可能会因治疗错过或延迟而出现并发症。本研究旨在量化COVID-19对恢复常规服务后入院的骨科患者负担和特征的影响。材料和方法 在德里一家三级护理医院恢复常规骨科服务后的一整年期间，使用访员管理的表格收集了所有骨科住院患者的数据。为了将创伤患者的负担与COVID-19大流行前时期进行比较，数据来自2017年在同一机构对创伤患者进行的类似研究。对于非创伤性疾病患者，使用以前的医院记录。结果 在COVID-19限制措施结束后恢复常规服务的一年期间，共有1585名患者入院，比COVID-19大流行前相应数据少41%。来自其他邻近邦的患者比例从COVID-19大流行前时期的52%下降到COVID-19期间恢复医疗服务时的41.55%。在2021年所有入院的创伤患者中，12.7%出现了治疗错过或并发症，而COVID-19大流行前为3.1%。其中约一半（52.5%）将其并发症归因于与COVID-19相关的封锁。结论 恢复常规骨科护理服务后患者数量显著下降。不应将整个三级护理教学医院转变为COVID-19专科医院，因为这会导致骨科治疗错过或并发症增加。
