Infanta Elena University Hospital General and Gastrointestinal Surgery Performed in “COVID-Free” Hospitals during the Sars-Cov-2 Pandemic

Sánchez de Molina Rampérez ML, Jiménez de los Galanes Marchán SF, Pacheco Martínez PA, Alonso Murillo L, De la Fuente Bartolome MB, García Vasquez C and Sánchez Menam M

Department of General and Digestive Surgery, Division of Endocrine and Breast Surgery, Hospital Universitario Infanta Elena, Spain

^*Correspondance to: María Luisa Sánchez de Molina Rampérez 

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Abstract:

During the worldwide pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the magnitude of which has exceeded the capacity of our hospitals, we have had to adapt our facilities to provide comprehensive care for patients with COVID-19. In accordance with guidelines published periodically throughout the pandemic, general surgeons have had to limit our activity to urgent surgeries and interventions that cannot be postponed. Furthermore, we have had to adopt extraordinary measures to reduce the rate of infection among patients and health-care professionals and limit infection-related postoperative complications, thus prompting us to cancel or delay surgical treatment for all other diseases. Within this scenario, our institution, Infanta Elena University Hospital, was able to refer patients scheduled for non-deferrable surgery or interventions to treat cancer to hospitals that were free of SARS-CoV-2. Over a 4-week period, a select team of surgeons performed endocrine and colorectal surgery for 5 days, based on the guidelines available at the time and the risk of morbidity and mortality. An on-call scheme was in place and ward rounds were held until the last patient was discharged; meanwhile, all other surgeons provided COVID-19 support in the main hospital. All patients were screened for epidemiologic risk factors. Eight (8) surgical procedures were carried out in adherence with periodically published recommendations. All patients were free of SARSCoV-2 infection at discharge and as such presented no added morbidity or mortality resulting from the pandemic. Current improvements in the epidemiologic situation are allowing us to gradually resume care delivery in the home institution; given the uncertain development of the pandemic and in light of our experience, we believe that performing surgery in COVID-free hospitals is a safe option and one that may be emulated elsewhere.

Keywords:

Covid-19; Covid; Corona Virus; Coronavirus disease 2019

Cite the Article:

Sánchez de Molina Rampérez ML, Jiménez de los Galanes Marchán SF, Pacheco Martínez PA, Alonso Murillo L, De la Fuente Bartolome MB, García Vasquez C, et al. Infanta Elena University Hospital General and Gastrointestinal Surgery Performed in “COVID-Free” Hospitals during the Sars-Cov-2 Pandemic. World J Surg Surgical Res. 2020; 3: 1246..