Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Mar-Apr:24:42-46.
doi: 10.1016/j.jor.2021.02.013. Epub 2021 Feb 12.

A dual-site trauma system during COVID-19 pandemic - Our experience in a high-risk area with 60-day mortality report

Lilanthi Wickramarachchi  1 , Jonathan Peters  1 , Amit Thakrar  1 , James Ml Wong  1 , George Mazis  1 , Verona Beckles  1 , Sandra Lacey  1 , Kuen Chin  1
Affiliations

A dual-site trauma system during COVID-19 pandemic - Our experience in a high-risk area with 60-day mortality report

Lilanthi Wickramarachchi et al. J Orthop. 2021 Mar-Apr.

Abstract

Aim: We set up a COVID-free trauma site due to the high rates of COVID-19 infections within our hospital. We aimed to determine the incidence of post-operative COVID-19 infection within the first two weeks post-treatment at the COVID-free site and the postoperative mortality rate. We analysed data for non-hip fracture and fragility hip fracture patients separately.

Method: Data was collected for 138 patients presented during the study period, having 147 operations in total. 103 were non-hip fracture patients and 35 were hip fracture patients.

Results: All patients were followed up and none of the non-hip fracture cohort developed symptoms of COVID-19 infection. Postoperative 60-day mortality rate for this cohort was 0.97%. Of the 35 hip fracture patients, none were tested positive for COVID-19. However, two patients were treated as suspected COVID cases due to their symptoms.

Conclusion: Establishing a separate site with screening for COVID-19 infection can allow safe emergency surgery.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; Dual-site; Mortality; Post-operative infection rates; Screening; Trauma and orthopaedic surgery.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Statistics » COVID-19 Daily Deaths [Internet] England.nhs.uk; 2020. https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/covid-19-da... [cited 27 June 2020]. Available from:
    1. Wang D, Hu B, Hu C et al. Clinical characteristics of 138 hospitalized patients with 2019 novel coronavirus-infected pneumonia in wuhan, China. J Am Med Assoc. 10.1001/jama.2020.1585. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lei S, Jiang F, Su W et al. Clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients undergoing surgeries during the incubation period of COVID-19 infection. EClinicalMedicine. 10.1016/j.eclinm.2020.100331. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Coronavirus (COVID-19): Guidance [Internet] GOV.UK; 2020. https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/coronavirus-covid-19-list-of-g... [cited 27 June 2020]. Available from:
    1. Chui K., Thakrar A., Shankar S. Evaluating the efficacy of a two-site (‘COVID-19’ and ‘COVID-19-free’) trauma and orthopaedic service for the management of hip fractures during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK. Bone & Joint Open. 2020 Jun;1(6):190–197. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources