Seven-point Checklist: Have You Prepared Sufficiently for the COVID-19 Crisis in Your Neurosurgery Department?

KURODA, Naoto

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a novel infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. COVID-19 was initially detected in Wuhan, China, in late 2019, and has now rapidly spread worldwide. Departments of Neurosurgery are required to employ an acute response against this pandemic. In this article, we discuss the important factors that neurosurgeons need to consider when managing their departments during the COVID-19 pandemic. We have summarized perspectives of the articles published on COVID-19, as well as the suggestions from neurosurgical societies in highly infected regions. We have proposed a seven-point checklist for neurosurgery departments: (1) networking among medical institutions; (2) coordinating teams within each institution; (3) prevention of infection within the department; (4) perioperative management; (5) triage; (6) changing subspecialty management protocols; and (7) psychological support for medical staff and patients.