LAUSR

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) impacts surgical flow and work practices in the operating theatre (OT). These arise from the greater risk of morbidity and mortality to patients as well as the potential for transmission to perioperative healthcare workers. The Victorian Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) perioperative COVID-19 guidelines have been developed and revised by a multidisciplinary COVID-19 personal protective equipment (PPE) taskforce since April 2020. The taskforce has visibility of supply and demand as well as the need to generally update and align its recommendations with national guidelines. Individual hospitals have also made modifications responding to their local circumstances, often increasing PPE requirements beyond taskforce guidance. Since the first case of COVID-19 was reported in Australia on 25 January 2020 to 6 September, DHHS infection control guidelines were updated five times. During this time, the University Hospital Geelong (UHG) updated their perioperative COVID-19 guidelines six times, whilst Epworth Geelong (EG) and St John of God (SJOG) private hospitals changed theirs 10 and eight times, respectively. Perioperative staff found the frequent changes confusing and also reported difficulties in accessing a single, consistent source of information. This study aimed to survey OT workers’ understanding of perioperative COVID-19 guidelines.