Recommendations for general surgery activities in a pandemic scenario (SARS-CoV-2)

Abstract

Background. The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, with over 430,000 cases and more than 19,000 deaths globally, forced healthcare systems to reorganise surgical activities. Methods. The paper is intended to be a reference for medical, nursing, social workers and ancillary hospital staff to implement the national and regional governments' decisions and focus on the Infection Prevention and Control. Results. From the gathered informations, suggestions are given to check carefully workflow and optimize the pre, intra and postoperative elective and emergency surgical activities Results. Following these recommendations is important to decrease the risk of in-hospital SARS-CoV-2 infection transmission, help making safety a priority for patients and healthcare professionals and organise general surgery activities in a more efficient, faster way.