TY  - JOUR
TI  - COVID-19 preparedness and response at a large UK major trauma operating theatres department
KW  - Science & Technology
KW  -  Life Sciences & Biomedicine
KW  -  Surgery
KW  -  Theatre utilisation and staffing
KW  -  Teamwork and communication
KW  -  Service improvement
KW  -  Risk management
KW  -  Leadership
KW  -  Infection control
KW  -  Operating theatre
SP  - 210
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1177/1750458920934406
EP  - 220
JF  - Journal of Perioperative Practice (JPP)
AV  - public
ID  - discovery10205604
N1  - © The Author(s) 2020.
Creative Commons License (CC BY 4.0)
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
SN  - 1750-4589
VL  - 30
N2  - This article aims to describe the early experience of a large major trauma operating theatres department in the East of England during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. To date and to our knowledge, a small amount of reports describing a surgical department?s response to this unprecedented pandemic have been published, but a well-documented account from within the United Kingdom (UK) has not yet been reported in the literature. We describe our preparation and response, including: operating theatres management during the COVID-19 pandemic, operational aspects and communication, leadership and support. The process review of measures presented covers approximately the two-month period between March and May 2020 and emphasises the fluidity of procedures needed. We discuss how significant challenges were overcome to secure implementation and reliable oversight. The visible presence of clinical leads well sighted on every aspect of the response guaranteed standardisation of procedures, while sustaining a vital feedback loop. Finally, we conclude that an effective response requires rapid analysis of the complex problem that is of providing care for patients intraoperatively during the COVID-19 pandemic, and that retrospective sense-making is essential to maintain adaptability.
PB  - SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD
Y1  - 2020/07/01/
A1  - Britton, Carolina R
A1  - Hayman, Gareth
A1  - Macfarlane, Claudia
A1  - Alawattegama, Hemantha
A1  - Ballecer, Jasper
A1  - Stroud, Nicola
A1  - Wallace, Alexander
IS  - 7-8
ER  -