The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Polish orthopedics, in particular on the level of stress among orthopedic surgeons and the education process

• Published in: PloS one 2021-09, Vol.16 (9), p.e0257289-e0257289
• Main Authors: Kolodziej, Lukasz, Ciechanowicz, Dawid, Rola, Hubert, Wolynski, Szymon, Wawrzyniak, Hanna, Rydzewska, Kamila, Podsiadlo, Konrad
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biochemistry; Biology and life sciences; Causes of; Control; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Doctors; Education; Engineering and Technology; Epidemics; Evaluation; Health care; Job stress; Medical care; Medical personnel; Medical supplies; Medicine and Health Sciences; Oncology; Orthopedics; Pandemics; Pathogens; People and Places; Personal protective equipment; Physicians; Poland; Polls & surveys; Protective equipment; Quality management; Questionnaires; Reduction; Regulations; Research and Analysis Methods; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Stress; Surgeons; Surveys; Training
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0257289

The Coronovirus Disease 2019 –(COVID-19) pandemic had a significant impact on the health care system and medical staff around the world. The orthopedic units were also subject to new restrictions and regulations. Therefore, the aim of our research was to assess how the COVID-19 pandemic affected orthopedic wards in the last year in Poland. We created an online survey, which was sent to 273 members of the Polish Society of Orthopedics and Traumatology. The survey contained 51 questions and was divided into main sections: Preparedness, Training, Stress, Reduction, Awareness. A total of 80 responses to the survey were obtained. In Preparedness section the vast majority of respondents (90%) replied, that they used personal protective equipment during the pandemic, however only 50% of the respondents indicated that their facility received a sufficient amount of personal protective equipment. Most of the respondents indicated that the pandemic negatively affected the quality of training of future orthopedists (69.4%) and that pandemic has had a negative impact on their operating skills (66,7%). In Reduction section most of the doctors indicated that the number of patients hospitalized in their departments decreased by 20–60% (61,2% respondents), while the number of operations performed decreased by 60–100% (60% respondents). The negative impact of pandemic on education was noticeable especially in the group of young orthopedic surgeons: 0–5 years of work experience (p = 0,029). Among the respondents, the level of stress increased over the last year from 4.8 to 6.9 (p