Author(s)

Lydia Weiling Li^1*, Prit Anand Singh^1#, Chou Liang Mah¹, Ong Lay Teng², Qian Jun Tong¹, Xiang Long Louis Ng¹

¹Department of Anaesthesia and Surgical Intensive Care, Changi General Hospital, Singapore.
²Division of Nursing, Operating Theatre, Changi General Hospital, Singapore.

The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 as a pandemic on 11 March 2020. Its rapid spread has put a strain on healthcare systems globally. Singapore ranked the highest in terms of reported cases outside of China in the first few weeks of this outbreak. The management of a patient with COVID-19 in the Operating Theatre (OT) presents a unique set of challenges to the Anaesthetist. Delivery of timely and quality care must be upheld while reducing the risk of transmission to healthcare staff and other patients. This article describes our Anaesthesia Unit’s experiences and challenges in instituting our pandemic plans. The authors hope that the sharing of our experience and practical approach would be useful to other Anaesthesia Units worldwide.

COVID-19, Anaesthesia, Operation Theatre, Preparedness, SARS-CoV-2, Pandemic, PPE, Manpower

Li, L. , Singh, P. , Mah, C. , Teng, O. , Tong, Q. and Ng, X. (2020) Instituting Pandemic Plans in a Singapore Anaesthesia Unit: The Challenges and Learning Points. Open Journal of Anesthesiology, 10, 263-276. doi: 10.4236/ojanes.2020.107023.