Experience from a Singapore tertiary hospital with restructuring a vascular surgery practice in response to national and institutional policies during the COVID-19 pandemic

Ng, Jun Jie; Gan, Tiffany R.X.; Niam, Jen Yong; Menon, Raj K.; Ho, Pei; Dharmaraj, Rajesh B.; Wong, Julian C.L.; Choong, Andrew M.T.L.

Singapore was one of the first countries to be affected by COVID-19, with the index patient diagnosed on 23 January 2020. For two weeks in February, we had the highest number of COVID-19 cases behind China. In this article, we summarize the key national and institutional policies that were implemented in response to COVID-19. We also describe in detail, with relevant data, how our vascular surgery practice has changed due to these policies and COVID-19. We show that with a segregated team model, the vascular surgery unit can still function whilst reducing risk of cross-contamination. We explain the various strategies adopted to reduce outpatient and inpatient volume. We provide a detailed breakdown of the type of vascular surgical cases that were performed during the COVID-19 pandemic and compared it to preceding months. We discuss our operating room and personal protective equipment protocols when managing a COVID-19 patient and share how we continue surgical training amidst the pandemic. We also discuss the challenges we might face in the future as COVID-19 regresses.