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. 2024 Apr 1;6(3):433-435.
doi: 10.1016/j.jhsg.2024.03.001. eCollection 2024 May.

Wide-Awake Surgery and Coronavirus Disease 2019: A Rural Experience

Robert E Van Demark Jr  1 , Troy D Hollinsworth  2
Affiliations

Wide-Awake Surgery and Coronavirus Disease 2019: A Rural Experience

Robert E Van Demark Jr et al. J Hand Surg Glob Online. .

Abstract

Surgeons across all subspecialties had to adapt to the Coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic to triage patients and steward hospital resources. Hand surgeons found themselves in a unique position to move some hospital-based procedures to a clinic-based setting, which has now impacted their postpandemic practices. Performing procedures in the clinic using the wide-awake local anesthesia no-tourniquet technique is interestingly similar to minor surgeries traditionally carried out in a general surgery clinic. By abstracting institutional case volumes from orthopedic, hand, and general surgery departments from 2019 to 2022, we identified trends that further support the potential for clinic-based procedures in hand surgery. This communication provides a foundation to compare cost and surgical indications for wide-awake local anesthesia across surgical disciplines.

Keywords: COVID-19; Case volume; Hand surgery; Pandemic; WALANT.

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Conflict of interest statement

No benefits in any form have been received or will be received related directly to this article.

Figures

Figure
Figure
Hand trauma cases from “Lockdown Month” April 2020. Graph representing the breakdown of surgical indications for hand surgery during the “Lockdown Month” of April 2020. Twenty total cases were performed by the hand surgery department, with open reduction internal fixation of distal radius fractures being the most frequent indication at eight cases.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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