UMMS Affiliation
School of Medicine
Publication Date
2021-04-01
Document Type
Article
Disciplines
Health Services Administration | Health Services Research | Infectious Disease | Orthopedics | Virus Diseases
Abstract
Background: With the development of the COVID-19 pandemic, elective foot and ankle surgeries were delayed throughout the United States to divert health care resources and limit exposure. Little is known about the impact of COVID-19 on patient's willingness to proceed with elective procedures once restrictions are lifted and factors contributing to such decision.
Methods: Patients across 6 US orthopedic institutions who had their elective foot and ankle surgeries cancelled secondary to the pandemic were given a questionnaire. Specifically, patients were asked about their willingness to move forward with surgery once restrictions were lifted and if not why. Pain-level and pain medication use were also assessed. Univariate analysis was used to identify factors that contribute to patient's decisions.
Results: A total of 150 patients participated in this study. Twenty-one (14%) opted not to proceed with surgery once restrictions were lifted. Forty-three percent (n = 9) listed concern for COVID infection as the reason; however, 14% of them would proceed if procedures were performed in surgery center. Twenty-nine (19% of the total cohort) patients had increased pain and 11% of patients were taking more pain meds because of the delay to their procedure. Patients who decided not to proceed with surgery reported pain reduction (3% vs 14%) and lower increase in pain medication used (5% vs 12%).
Conclusion: COVID-19 has made a significant impact on the health care system. Delay of elective foot and ankle procedures impact patient quality of life and outcomes. Access to surgery centers may provide a partial solution during the pandemic.
Level of Evidence: Level III.
Keywords
COVID-19, ambulatory surgery, elective surgery, foot and ankle
Rights and Permissions
Copyright © The Author(s) 2021. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
DOI of Published Version
10.1177/24730114211013788
Source
Chan JJ, Chen KK, Choi P, Rojas EO, Schipper ON, Aiyer A, de Cesar Netto C, Haleem AM, Kadakia AR, Vulcano E. Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Patients' Perceptions of Safety and Need for Elective Foot and Ankle Surgery in the United States. Foot Ankle Orthop. 2021 Jun 4;6(2):24730114211013788. doi: 10.1177/24730114211013788. PMID: 35097451; PMCID: PMC8702750. Link to article on publisher's site
Journal/Book/Conference Title
Foot and ankle orthopaedics
Related Resources
PubMed ID
35097451
Repository Citation
Chan JJ, Chen KK, Choi P, Rojas EO, Schipper ON, Aiyer A, de Cesar Netto C, Haleem AM, Kadakia AR, Vulcano E. (2021). Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Patients' Perceptions of Safety and Need for Elective Foot and Ankle Surgery in the United States. COVID-19 Publications by UMass Chan Authors. https://doi.org/10.1177/24730114211013788. Retrieved from https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/covid19/370
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Included in
Health Services Administration Commons, Health Services Research Commons, Infectious Disease Commons, Orthopedics Commons, Virus Diseases Commons