Infection prevention and surgery in the post-pandemic era

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on surgical specialties. Although markedly reduced in the post-vaccination Omicron era, COVID-19 continues to carry risk to the surgical patient, with an increased incidence of pulmonary complications and mortality in patients who test positive perioperatively. Individual risk assessments need to be performed if surgery is being considered within 7 weeks of testing positive for SARS-CoV-2. Rapid testing for SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory viruses remains essential to enable timely correct patient placement. Infection prevention and control measures are critical to ensure appropriate care is given and to reduce the risk of onward transmission. This article will discuss the measures that were instigated and contributed to infection control in surgery, such as testing, patient isolation, personal protective equipment and ventilation during the pandemic, learnings including keeping basic infection control practices at the heart of any guidance changes and the current state of play in the UK. The collaborative approach seen during the pandemic and the ongoing shared decision making when risk assessing surgical patients is critical to maintaining patient safety and continuing excellent infection prevention and control practices.