1. Covid-19 Pandemic: Resumption of Orthopedic Care and Medical Education
- Author
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Devansh Garg, Anil K Jain, Rashmi Salhotra, Bhushan Shah, Asha Tyagi, Saurabh Kumar, Ashok N. Johari, Rashid Anjum, and Amir Maroof Khan
- Subjects
Medical education ,030222 orthopedics ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Hand washing ,Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) ,Pandemic ,business.industry ,COVID-19 ,030229 sport sciences ,Disease ,Review Article ,medicine.disease ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Orthopedic care ,Emergency medicine ,Orthopedic surgery ,medicine ,Orthopedics and Sports Medicine ,General anaesthesia ,business ,Fasciitis ,Disease burden - Abstract
Covid-19 is a respiratory disease caused by coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) first identified in Wuhan, China (December 2019). The disease rapidly crossed the barrier of countries, continents and spread globally. Non-pharmaceutical measures such as social distancing, face mask, frequent hand washing and use of sanitizer remained the best available option to prevent the spread of disease. OPD, IPD admissions, elective O. Ts were curtailed. Orthopedic care was only limited to emergency and semi-urgent procedures like necrotizing fasciitis, open fracture, and compartment syndrome. These measures were taken to preserve infrastructure and manpower to manage covid-19 pandemic. The children were thought to have a low susceptibility to covid-19 as compared to an adult. Deferring the patient during pandemic has led to high orthopedic disease burden, morbidity and disease-related sequelae, hence elective care must be resumed with modified hospital infrastructure. Resumption of elective/emergent orthopedic care should be slow, phasic and strategic, much similar to unlocking. Cases must be stratified depending on covid status and severity. Dedicated O.Ts with neutral/negative pressure and HEPA filter for covid positive and suspected patients are to be used. All symptomatic and suspected patients should be investigated for covid-19 by RT-PCR, blood counts and CT scan. Regional anaesthesia should be preferred to General anaesthesia. Power drill/saw/burr/pulse lavage should be minimized to avoid aerosol generation. Postoperatively continuous surveillance and monitoring to be done for covid related symptoms. Medical institutes rapidly shifted to the online mode of education. Blended learning (virtual & physical) and imparting skills have to be continued in post covid phase with equitable distribution of teaching hours to students of different years.
- Published
- 2021