[Safe surgery and COVID-19: A narrative review]

Area of Science:

• Infectious Diseases
• Surgical Safety
• Public Health

Background:

• Pandemic-related interruptions in surgical care necessitate recovery strategies.
• Elective surgeries must resume safely, considering co-existing COVID-19 cases.
• Need for updated surgical protocols to ensure patient and healthcare worker safety.

Purpose of the Study:

• To synthesize COVID-19 best practices for safe surgical procedures.
• To develop a proposed surgical safety checklist tailored for COVID-19 patients.
• To guide the resumption of elective surgical care.

Main Methods:

• Conducted a narrative literature review adhering to the PRISMA protocol.
• Searched Medline and Cochrane databases using specific MeSH terms and Boolean operators.
• Included grey literature from scientific bodies and societies' recommendations.

Main Results:

• Included 33 studies focusing on safe surgery and checklists for COVID-19.
• Identified treatment aspects (41.3%) and prevention/control measures (27.6%) as key recommendations.
• Found a consensus on recommended practices for surgical patients with COVID-19.

Conclusions:

• A consensus exists on good practices for COVID-19 surgical patients.
• This consensus supports the development of a tailored surgical safety checklist.
• The proposed checklist can enhance safe surgical care delivery.