The Perioperative Patient Experience During COVID-19

Abstract

Background: Access to elective surgical procedures has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We sought to understand the patient experience by developing and distributing an anonymous online survey to those who underwent non-emergency surgery at a large academic tertiary medical center between March and October 2020. Results: The survey was completed by 184 patients; the majority were white (84%), female (74.6%), and ranged from 18 to 88 years old. Patients were likely unaware of case delay as only 23.6% reported a delay, 82% of which agreed with that decision. Conversely, 44% felt that the delay negatively impacted their quality of life. Overall, 82.7% of patients indicated high satisfaction with their care. African American patients more often indicated a “neutral” vs “satisfactory” hospital experience (P <60) were more likely than older (≥60) patients to note anxiety associated with having surgery during the pandemic (P