Timing and volume of information relevant to the Otolaryngologist during
the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK.
Abstract
Background: The SARS-CoV-2 was first reported in December 2019 in Wuhan,
China and has been declared a pandemic in March 2020. COVID-19 has
caused unprecedented and lasting biopsychosocial effects worldwide. All
healthcare professionals have faced life threatening risks by attending
their daily jobs. The daily emergence of advice and guidelines was
necessary to ensure the safety of patients and staff. To this effect,
all elective services came to a halt to preserve hospitals’ capacity for
dealing with the sickest. This retrospective, descriptive review aims to
assess the volume and timing of the advice released specifically
relevant to the UK Otolaryngologist. Methods: The search included online
advice published in English by international, national and ENT-specific
organisations between the 1st of January to the 31st of May. The date,
title, source, type of advice and link to the advice was recorded in
Excel. The resources were analysed per week of publication. A separate
search for peer-reviewed publications was conducted using PubMed Central
and Cochrane databases. Findings: 175 covid-19 related guidance’s were
identified. 52/175 (29.7%) articles were published by international
organisations. 56/175 (32%) were produced by national organisations and
67/175 (38.28%) were produced by ENT specific organisations. The peak
guidance production took place in the third and fourth week of March
(16/03/2020- 29/03/2020) with 72/175 publications. Of these, 27/72 came
from the international category, 17/72 from national bodies and 28/72
from ENT-specific organisations. 13,863 total publications relating to
COVID-19 were found using PubMed and Cochrane search strategies; 76%
were relevant to ENT surgeons. Conclusion: The challenges faced by the
Otolaryngologist relate to the unprecedented, sudden and daily changes
to clinical practice. Multiple bodies interpreted the guidance giving an
opportunity for confusion and delays in treatments for patients.
Implementing a system with clear lines of communication and
dissemination of information will improve our response in future
pandemic events whilst maintaining a commercial awareness to better use
the human and financial resources of an already financially-restricted
NHS.