COVID-19 in Women's health: Pre-operative gynaecological assessment and shared decision making

Elizabeth Ball; Fredric Willmott; Carol Rivas; Chiraag Talati

doi:10.1016/j.bpobgyn.2021.03.001

COVID-19 in Women's health: Pre-operative gynaecological assessment and shared decision making

Best Pract Res Clin Obstet Gynaecol. 2021 Jun:73:12-21. doi: 10.1016/j.bpobgyn.2021.03.001. Epub 2021 Mar 18.

Authors

Elizabeth Ball¹, Fredric Willmott², Carol Rivas³, Chiraag Talati⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Barts Health NHS Trust, United Kingdom; Department of Women's and Child Health, City University London, United Kingdom. Electronic address: elizabeth.ball9@nhs.net.
² Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Barts Health NHS Trust, United Kingdom.
³ University College London Social Research Institute, University College London (UCL) London, United Kingdom.
⁴ Department of Anaesthesia, Homerton University Hospital NHS Trust, United Kingdom.

Abstract

The National Health Service (NHS) response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic brought about rapid and innovative changes to surgical care in gynaecology, shared decision making around operative procedures and pre-operative gynaecological pathways. Short-term changes are linked to the redeployment of resources away from elective gynaecology and long-term changes relate to accelerating the streamlining of treatments, telemedicine and education in patient self-management. The speed and recency of the response does not yet permit the creation of a large evidence base for effective and acceptable interventions, apart from anecdotal observations of 'what works well'' good practice and guidance from the Royal Colleges and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; Consent; Gynaecological services; Pandemic response; Priortitisation.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

COVID-19*
Decision Making, Shared
Female
Gynecology*
Humans
SARS-CoV-2
State Medicine
Women's Health