Effect of COVİD-19 pandemic on general surgery practice and resident education

Background: Sudden change in general surgery practice during pandemic caused a detrimental effect on residency training. The main objective of this study is to reveal the effect of Covid-19 pandemic on general surgery practice and surgical residency education. Methods: This retrospective observational study included all patients operated at a tertiary university hospital, general surgery department between 11-March 2019/ 11- January-2019 (Pre-Covid 19 Period) and 11-march 2020- 11- January -2020 (Covid 19 period). Two period compared in terms of case volume and distrubition, timing of operation, complication rate, hospital length of stay, resident’s operation volume and distribution of operations among residents. Results: Overall 2740 cases included to study. Elective case volume significantly decreased during pandemic (p=0.001). This decrease is much more obvious for B-C category operations. Intermediate seniority resident’s case volumes and complexity of the cases they performed decreased during pandemic. Conclusion: Due to pandemic case volume significantly decreased and this decreasement effected residents’ training. Surgical residency programs must be revised urgently in order to provide adequte training especially for intermediate seniority residents.