Surgical Practice During the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Update

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc as the world scrambles to find the yet elusive cure. With millions of infected cases and mortalities worldwide, it is mainly a droplet infection though other modalities have been documented. Diseases other than this pandemic infection continue unabated and must be managed alongside the menace of COVID-19 infection. Surgical practices need to adapt to cater for the threat of infection during human interactions in the community, during stay in the hospital and between the surgeon and his patients. Telemedicine is emerging to be an extremely important modality in patient management in the given circumstances. Patients need to be carefully selected for admission and screened for COVID-19 and operating room protocols upgraded. This status quo review of alterations in surgical practice during the pandemic explores the recommendations available on PUBMED, WHO and public funded sites with access to COVID-19 research.