Publication details
Patients' Opinions on the Limitation of Elective Care During the Covid-19 Pandemic
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| Year of publication | 2024 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
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| Description | Introduction: During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a reduction in elective care, especially for patients whose main medical condition did not require urgent care. In the first 12 weeks of the pandemic, more than 30 million elective surgeries had to be postponed – i.e. 70% of all elective surgeries worldwide. Aim: To find out the opinions of patients on the limitation of elective care - postponement of a planned procedure during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: Descriptive observational study. Data collection took place from 01/06/2022 - 31/12/2022 of a structured interview with patients aged 18-89 years who had surgery postponed during the COVID-19 pandemic (2019-2022). The statistical validation was conducted using Fisher's exact test and Superman's correlation coefficient a significance level of 0.05. Results: A sample of 118 patients with an average age of 61 years, of which 52 were women and 66 were men. The most changes in the regularity of visits were in the case of changing the date on one's initiative (<0.001). Patients who were provided with adequate replacement therapy did not mind the postponed date of the planned operation, while those who were not provided with adequate replacement care were very bothered by the postponement in 66.7% of cases (p=0.002). Patients' dissatisfaction with the postponement of the procedure statistically significantly increases with the dissatisfaction with the overall quality of services (p=0.013). A total of 34 (28.8%) respondents described the occurrence of complications. Patients who experienced complications due to the postponement of a planned procedure during the pandemic more often observed an increase in recovery time (p=0.004). Conclusion: In all monitored cases, the occurrence of complications that, since the beginning of the planned surgical operation of the COVID-19 pandemic, had a significant effect on the deterioration of the health of the patients. Even though elective care was restricted for respondents during the COVID-19 pandemic, they subjectively assessed the quality of care provided rather positively. |