JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The COVID-19 pandemic has influenced health care delivery significantly. Numerous studies have highlighted that trauma theatre efficiency has decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic, however there is limited information as to exactly which stage of the patient theatre journey is causing this decreased efficiency and whether efficiency can be improved. In our centre, we have attempted to maintain trauma theatre efficiency despite the requirement for increased infection control protocols.

Objective:

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of additional COVID-19 infection control protocols on trauma theatre efficiency in our centre, looking at the length of time taken for specific theatre events and if our interventions were successful in maintaining theatre efficiency.

Methods:

We compared the efficiency of the trauma theatre in a busy unit in December 2019 (pre-COVID) to December 2020 (with COVID-19 protocols in place). We collected time logs for different theatre events for each patient in Decembers of both the years and compared the data.

Results:

There was no significant difference in the average number of cases performed per session between the COVID-19 and pre-COVID time periods (P=.17). Theatre start time was significantly earlier during COVID-19 period (P<.001). There was no significant difference between the two groups for transport time, Check in Time, Pre-Procedure Time, Anaesthetic Time and the time between cases (P>.05). A significant difference was observed in the check Out Time between the two groups, with check-out taking longer during the COVID-19 period (P<0.001).

Conclusions:

Our results show that our theatre start times were better during the COVID-19 pandemic and overall theatre efficiency was maintained despite the additional COVID-19 infection control protocols that were in place. These findings suggest that well planned infection control protocols do not need to impede trauma theatre efficiency in certain settings.