Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Neurosurgical Practice at an Academic Tertiary Referral Center: A Comparative Study

Abstract

Background

Neurosurgical services are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and several departments reported their experiences and responses to the COVID-19 crisis in an attempt to provide insights from which other impacted departments can benefit.

Objective

The goals of this study are to report the load and variety of emergent/urgent neurosurgical cases after implementing the ‘Battle Plan’ at an academic tertiary referral center during the COVID-19 pandemic and to compare these variables to previous practice at the same institution.

Methods

The clinical data of all patients who underwent a neurosurgical intervention between March 23, 2020 and April 20, 2020 was obtained from a prospectively maintained database. Data of the control group was retrospectively collected from the medical records to compare the types of surgeries/interventions performed by the same neurosurgical service before the COVID-19 pandemic started.

Results

Ninety-one patients underwent emergent, urgent and essential neurosurgical interventions over a 4-week period during the COVID-19 pandemic. Patient screening at teleclinics identified 11 urgent surgical cases. The implementation of the ‘Battle Plan’ led to a significant decrease in the case load, and the variation of cases by subspecialty is evident when compared to a control group comprised of 214 patients.

Conclusion

Delivery of optimal care and safe practice and education at an academic neurosurgical department can be well maintained with proper execution of crisis protocols. Teleclinics proved to be efficient in screening patients for urgent neurosurgical conditions, but in-person clinic visits may still be necessary for some cases in the immediate postoperative period.