Spine Surgery and COVID-19: The Influence of Practice Type on Preparedness, Response, and Economic Impact
- Creators
- Weiner, Joseph Arnold1
- Swiatek, Peter Raymond1
- Johnson, Daniel James1
- Louie, Philip K.2
- Harada, Garrett K.3
- McCarthy, Michael H.2
- Germscheid, Niccole4
- Cheung, Jason P. Y.5
- Neva, Marko H.6
- El-Sharkawi, Mohammad7
- Valacco, Marcelo8
- Sciubba, Daniel M.9
- Chutkan, Norman B.10
- An, Howard S.3
- Samartzis, Dino3
Abstract
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.
Other
original_citation: Weiner JA, Swiatek PR, Johnson DJ, Louie PK, Harada GK, McCarthy MH, Germscheid N, Cheung JPY, Neva MH, El-Sharkawi M, Valacco M, Sciubba DM, Chutkan NB, An HS, Samartzis D. Spine Surgery and COVID-19: The Influence of Practice Type on Preparedness, Response, and Economic Impact. Global Spine Journal. 2022;12(2):249-262.
Acknowledgements
The authors would especially like to thank Kaija Kurki-Suonio and Fernando Kijel from AO Spine (Davos, Switzerland) for their assistance with circulating the survey to AO Spine members.
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Additional details
- PMID
- 32762354
- Created
-
2020-08-07When the item was originally created.