Anaesthesiology Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Portugal
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25751/rspa.20183Keywords:
Anaesthesiologists, Surveys and Questionnaires, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Perioperative Medicine, Health ManagementAbstract
Background: In Portugal, there have been more than 30,000 COVID-19 cases. Anaesthesiologists played a major role in the pandemic context, due to its transversality to several areas, namely Intensive Care, Emergency Pain Therapy and Perioperative Medicine in the operating room, outside the operating room and Obstetrics. The main goals of this study were to characterize the role of Anaesthesiology during the COVID-19 pandemic and to measure the organization of hospital institutions in Portugal.
Methods: A cross-sectional, observational, descriptive and analytical study, carried through an email survey, addressed to residents and specialists in Anaesthesiology working in Portugal. The survey was composed of 10 sociodemographic and professional questions, 20 questions to characterize the structure of human resources and 35 questions about the service's logistical management.
Results: A total of 266 survey responses were collected. 47.4% of the respondents contributed directly to the care of COVID-19 patients. Regarding the logistical management of the Services, 80% admitted that their Service has developed a contingency plan; 41.4% reported the conversion of Post-anaesthetic Care Units into Intensive Care Units and 66.9% reported an increase in the capacity of intensive care above 75% of the original number of beds. The majority agreed that their Department of Anaesthesiology managed human resources properly during the pandemic.
Discussion and Conclusions: The role of Anaesthesiology was crucial during COVID-19 pandemic in several areas. In the fight against this pandemic, Portuguese anaesthesiologists reorganized themselves, creating new working routines to improve the outcome of patients and minimize the risks of infection by COVID-19.
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