Changes in Surgical Volume in Military Medical Treatment Facilities and Military Surgeon Clinical Combat Readiness During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Andrew J Schoenfeld; Hoa T Ho; Roman J Schoenfeld; Christian Coles; Tracey P Koehlmoos

doi:10.1097/AS9.0000000000000308

Changes in Surgical Volume in Military Medical Treatment Facilities and Military Surgeon Clinical Combat Readiness During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Ann Surg Open. 2023 Jun 21;4(3):e308. doi: 10.1097/AS9.0000000000000308. eCollection 2023 Sep.

Authors

Andrew J Schoenfeld¹, Hoa T Ho², Roman J Schoenfeld³, Christian Coles², Tracey P Koehlmoos²

Affiliations

¹ From the Center for Surgery and Public Health, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
² Department of Preventive Medicine and Biostatistics, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD.
³ Medfield Public Schools, Medfield, MA.

Abstract

Mini-abstract In this retrospective study, we evaluated changes in measures of surgeon clinical combat readiness within the military health system during the COVID-19 pandemic. We found a 36% reduction in surgical knowledge and skills as compared to pre-COVID. Sizable reductions were encountered for surgery for colectomy (-50%) and aneurysm repair (-61%).