Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35593997›Full record

ArticleIrish journal of medical science2023

The impact of COVID-19 on neurosurgical theatre activity in the National Neurosurgical Centre of Ireland.

Kareem Hussein, Aoife Geoghegan, Mohammed Hassan, Michael Moore

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Article in Irish journal of medical science, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Observational
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4 · The record

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PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Kareem HusseinDepartment of Anaesthesia, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, Ireland. kareemhussein@outlook.ie.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5264-1596
Aoife GeogheganDepartment of Anaesthesia, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, Ireland.
Mohammed HassanDepartment of Anaesthesia, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, Ireland.
Michael MooreDepartment of Anaesthesia, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, Ireland.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe global healthcare activity including neurosurgical services has been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

aimCompare neurosurgical theatre activity from 2019 (pre-pandemic) to that of the subsequent pandemic years (2020-2021) and explore how each wave of COVID-19 infection impacted activity levels.

methodsA retrospective analysis of neurosurgical theatre activity at the National Neurosurgical Centre of Ireland was performed from 1 January 2019 till 31 December 2021. The extracted data included date, surgical procedure, demographics of the patient and case scheduling (elective or emergency).

resultsIn total, 6139 neurosurgical procedures were recorded throughout the study period. Two thousand one hundred forty-four neurosurgical procedures were recorded in 2019, 2052 in 2020 and 1943 in 2021 corresponding to a reduction in theatre activity by 4.3% and 9.4% in 2020 and 2021 respectively. The lowest number of monthly caseloads was recorded in April 2020 during the first wave of the pandemic. The first quarter of 2021 recorded the lowest number of quarterly surgical procedures over the entire 3-year period contributing to just 19.4% of 2021 caseload. Subgroup analysis showed a significant reduction in trans-sphenoidal pituitary surgeries post-pandemic by 36% and 44% in 2020 and 2021 respectively.

conclusionsDespite the exceptional stress imposed on our institution by COVID-19, the neurosurgical service managed to maintain comparable activity levels to 2019. The 2021 activity levels were more significantly impacted with 9.4% reduction when compared with pre-pandemic figures in 2019. Institutions need to develop a robust emergency plan to reduce the impact of any subsequent pandemics on healthcare delivery.

Indexed as

COVID-19HumansIrelandNeurosurgical ProceduresPandemicsRetrospective StudiesCraniotomyNeurosurgeryPandemicViruses

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.