More and more patients are silent that they have corona-like complaints towards the hospital. They do this out of fear that a planned operation will not go ahead. Anesthesiologists are sounding the alarm about this, writes medical journal Medisch Contact.
You’ve been waiting for hip or jaw surgery for months and this week it’s finally your turn. But then you suddenly have a light cough. Normally you wouldn’t think about it, but now this is an alarm signal. You may be infected with the coronavirus and it is therefore important to start testing. Hospitals therefore ask whether people have corona-like complaints before they receive ‘normal’ (non-corona) treatment. Testing is done in case of complaints.
shut up
In this case, more and more people seem to hide the minor complaints from the doctor. Anesthesiologists call their professional association the Dutch Society for Anesthesiology is increasingly dealing with this problem. If the people are infected, they can endanger caregivers and other patients. Moreover, they put themselves at risk, because with a corona infection the risk of complications during an operation is greater. The president of the association therefore recommends: everybody to test, complaints or not: ‘Our advice is to test patients – certainly in areas where the disease is common – before they are operated on.’
