Endoscopy Service – Back On Track Between Covid-19 Surges: A Global Evaluation

Aims An outbreak of coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) has altered the dynamic of endoscopic practices. Many guidelines, questionnaires have been published addressing service resumption during the pandemic. Curious about the situation indifferent endoscopic units across the globe, the study was designed to evaluate different aspects of practice resumptionworldwide and their adherence to guidelines. Methods An online questionnaire was created and distributed by national/regional representatives and societies. Redcapplatform was used as the interface;afterwards, Microsoft Excel 2016 and Prism 5 were utilized for data analysis. Results From a total of 307 responses from 47 countries/regions was collected, 290 valid answers were analyzed. Almosthalf (47 %) were in post-peak period by August, 2020. Many units were not designated to be COVID-oriented facility. About15.5 % of centers remained unrecovered, mainly in North and South America;those were recovered, training was still withheld significantly. Nevertheless, opened centers kept safety measurements strictly. Patient load was decreased by 37 %,but waiting list was increased 0-25 %. Among many surveillance methods, body temperature, PCR and chest CT were themost common. 74.8 % increased post-procedural disinfection time and 68.2 % increase in per-case inspection were noted.PPE usage was implemented highly and shortage of these posed as one of the resumption barriers. Post-procedural patientsurveillance was not reinforced. Conclusions The study represented real-time global endoscopic service's adaptation to COVID-19 pandemic. Previouslypublished barriers upon practice resumption remained. Despite Delphi consensus' emphasis on post-procedural surveillance, application was not widely reinforced, raising concerns in disease control.