General surgery practice in Aceh rural hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic: a descriptive cross-sectional study

Background: COVID-19 pandemic is one of the biggest issues that we have faced and has had a significant impact on healthcare practice worldwide. Increasing COVID-19 cases requires the surgical department to reorganize all the patient treatment to prevent infection. This study aims to find out the pattern of general surgery care during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the non COVID-19 period and to know better to prepare for surgical patients' treatment in the future.Method: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study. We studied the important points of a complete range of the patient at the department of surgery outpatient, inpatient, and operation theatre of Datu Beru Hospital from 1 March 2020 to 31 December 2020 for the COVID period and 1 March 2019 to 31 December 2019 for the non-COVID period.Result: There were 2822 outpatient visits during the non-COVID period and 1949 patients during the COVID period. The total decrease in outpatient visits was 30.93% during the pandemic. Female outpatient visits are 51.25% during COVID period. There is 36.49 % reduction in total operation during pandemic. Total elective cases were 78,68% decrease over the pandemic period from 591 to 126 cases. There were 45% reduction inpatient admissions during pandemic.Conclusion: There is a reduction in number of general surgery cases during COVID-19. Some elective surgeries can still be performed with triage according to the guideline. All actions are following protocol and Personal Protection Equipment so that the safety of surgeons, staff, and patients is maintained.