Open AccessSpine Surgery and COVID-19: The Influence of Practice Type on Preparedness, Response, and Economic Impact
Author(s) -
Joseph A. Weiner,
Peter R. Swiatek,
Daniel J. Johnson,
Philip K. Louie,
Garrett K. Harada,
Michael H. McCarthy,
Niccole Germscheid,
Jason Pui Yin Cheung,
Marko H. Neva,
Mohammad El-Sharkawi,
Marcelo Valacco,
Daniel M. Sciubba,
Norman Chutkan,
Dino Samartzis
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
global spine journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.398
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 2192-5690
pISSN - 2192-5682
DOI - 10.1177/2192568220949183
Subject(s) - medicine , preparedness , private practice , pandemic , observational study , government (linguistics) , cross sectional study , family medicine , covid-19 , linguistics , philosophy , disease , pathology , political science , infectious disease (medical specialty) , law
Study Design: Cross-sectional observational cohort study.Objective: To investigate preparation, response, and economic impact of COVID-19 on private, public, academic, and privademic spine surgeons.Methods: AO Spine COVID-19 and Spine Surgeon Global Impact Survey includes domains on surgeon demographics, location of practice, type of practice, COVID-19 perceptions, institutional preparedness and response, personal and practice impact, and future perceptions. The survey was distributed by AO Spine via email to members (n = 3805). Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify differences between practice settings.Results: A total of 902 surgeons completed the survey. In all, 45.4% of respondents worked in an academic setting, 22.9% in privademics, 16.1% in private practice, and 15.6% in public hospitals. Academic practice setting was independently associated with performing elective and emergent spine surgeries at the time of survey distribution. A majority of surgeons reported a >75% decrease in case volume. Private practice and privademic surgeons reported losing income at a higher rate compared with academic or public surgeons. Practice setting was associated with personal protective equipment availability and economic issues as a source of stress.Conclusions: The current study indicates that practice setting affected both preparedness and response to COVID-19. Surgeons in private and privademic practices reported increased worry about the economic implications of the current crisis compared with surgeons in academic and public hospitals. COVID-19 decreased overall clinical productivity, revenue, and income. Government response to the current pandemic and preparation for future pandemics needs to be adaptable to surgeons in all practice settings.