Orthopaedic Trauma Never Sleeps: Resource Allocation Even During a Non-trauma Crisis

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This study aimed to describe hospital resource utilization of an orthopaedic trauma service and the injury epidemiology during the 2019–2020 coronavirus pandemic to help plan future non-trauma crises. A retrospective chart review was performed on adult patients > 18 years of age who presented to our Level I Trauma Center for musculoskeletal trauma from March 30, 2020 to May 8, 2020 (stay-at-home order) and from March 30, 2019 to May 8, 2019 (comparison group). There were 182 patient encounters and 274 fractures in the 2020 stay-at-home period, and there were 210 patient encounters and 337 fractures in the 2019 control group. There was no statistical difference found comparing the proportion of patient encounters in the stay- at-home period to the control period (p > 0.05). The similar volume of consultations and surgeries justifies maintenance of standard resource allocation. (Journal of Surgical Orthopaedic Advances 32(2):102–106, 2023)

Key words: Coronavirus pandemic, orthopaedic trauma epidemiology, resource utilization

Risa Reid, MD; Tamar Roomian, MS, MPH; Madhav Karunakar, MD; Samuel Posey, MD; Alexander Hysong, MD; Rachel B. Seymour, PhD; Joseph R. Hsu, MD; and Evidence-based Musculoskeletal Injury and Trauma Collaborative (EMIT)

EMIT: K. Eddie Afetse, BS, BA; Gisele Bailey, MS; Michael Bosse, MD; Matthew Braswell, MD; Maggie Brownrigg, BS; Christine Churchill, MA; Mario Cuadra, MD; Cara Girardi, BS; Erica Grochowski, MPH; Josef Jolissaint, MD; Laurence Kempton, MD; David Macknet, MD; R. Miles Mayberry, BS; Patrick Moody, MD; Susan Odum, PhD; Katheryn Peterson, BSPH ; Kevin Phelps, MD; Hannah Pollock, BS ; Brian Scannell, MD; Stephen Sims, MD; Amber Stanley, BSPH; Meghan K. Wally, MSPH; Andrew Wohler, MD; Ziqing Yu, MS