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.
Original language | English (US) |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 249-262 |
Number of pages | 14 |
Journal | Global Spine Journal |
Volume | 12 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Mar 2022 |
Keywords
- COVID-19
- coronavirus
- global
- impact
- private practice
- spine; surgeons
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Clinical Neurology
- Surgery
- Orthopedics and Sports Medicine