Assess, adapt and act: a paediatric surgery division's initial approach in a rapidly evolving pandemic
Anand Sanmugam1, Ganesh Vythilingam2, Srihari Singaravel2
1Division of Paediatric Surgery, Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Anandshan@hotmail.com.
Insights
Paediatric surgery divisions adapted to COVID-19 by changing service delivery and training. These adaptive strategies successfully minimized disruptions to essential surgical care and education in a developing country.
Area of Science:
- Global health
- Surgical services
- Pandemic response
Background:
- The COVID-19 pandemic significantly challenged healthcare delivery worldwide.
- Paediatric surgery divisions faced unprecedented operational hurdles.
Purpose of the Study:
- To describe adaptive measures implemented by a paediatric surgery division in a developing country during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- To outline the evolving roles of division members in response to the crisis.
Main Methods:
- Implemented adaptive strategies: surgery stratification, urgent outpatient services, policy development with multidisciplinary teams, and staff redeployment.
- Modified teaching and training activities to ensure social distancing and address reduced operative learning.
- Expanded roles for academic staff to include non-surgical responsibilities.
Main Results:
- Successfully minimized disruption to essential paediatric surgical services and training.
- Initial measures aligned with those adopted by other global surgical centers.
- Demonstrated effectiveness despite a lack of established pandemic-specific guidelines.
Conclusions:
- Adaptive changes in surgical service delivery and training require a comprehensive approach.
- Continuous re-evaluation of practices is crucial as new experiences and guidelines emerge.
Purpose:
The COVID-19 pandemic has placed an unprecedented test on the delivery and management of healthcare services globally. This study describes the adaptive measures taken and evolving roles of the members of the paediatric surgery division in a developing country during this period.
Methods:
We adopted multiple adaptive strategies including changes to stratification of surgeries, out-patient services by urgency and hospital alert status, policy writing involving multidisciplinary teams, and redeployment of manpower. Modifications were made to teaching activities and skills training to observe social distancing and mitigate reduced operative learning opportunities. Roles of academic staff were expanded to include non-surgical duties.
Results:
The planned strategies and changes to pre COVID-19 practices were successful in ensuring minimal disruption to the delivery of essential paediatric surgical services and training. Despite the lack of established guidelines and literature outlining strategies to address the impact of this pandemic on surgical services, most of the initial measures employed were consistent with that of other surgical centres.
Conclusion:
Changes to delivery of surgical services and surgical training warrant a holistic approach and a constant re-evaluation of practices with emergence of new experiences and guidelines.
