The COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented effect on obstetrics and gynaecology practice. Changes to practice included postponing non-urgent clinical work, changes to working environment, moving clinics and elective operating outside some hospitals, training anxieties due to redeployment, interruption of elective gynaecology surgeries and online examinations. In the UK, there was greater (NHS) public-private partnership emphasis on mental health issues, alterations to how we manage waiting lists and workload and incorporation of telemedicine.
Although the pandemic is over, its effects continue to linger, and we need to discuss how this has led to interim and permanent changes in practice. Concerns have been raised if those delays in face-to-face consultations with GPs and hospital clinicians may have adversely affected healthcare and delayed cancer diagnosis. Some of issues, such as greater awareness of mental wellbeing as well as alternative pathways to facilitate patient access (e.g., remote consultations), working from home and undertaking local, national and international educational events online have been beneficial and should perhaps remain.
The aim of this article collection is to share information on how our practice had evolved and adapted to COVID-19.
This Article Collection aims to bring together original laboratory or clinical research articles, reviews relevant to practice or short communications and case reports relating to the impact and consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on obstetrics and gynaecology practice around the world.
Potential subtopics relating to obstetrics and gynaecology include (but are not limited to):
- Education and training
- Mental health
- Fertility services
- Sexual and reproductive health
- Personal vignettes on how to maximise surgical training during the pandemic
- National blueprints for recovery programmes
- Remote access telemedicine
- Public-private partnership
- Events and examinations
Dr Wai Yoong has a broad interest in training and education and has 150 PubMed-listed publications. He was the senior editor of a video-based series entitled “How to perform operative procedures in Obstetrics and Gynaecology” which was awarded the best book in the Obstetrics and Gynaecology section of British Medical Associations Medical Books Award 2021. He is currently an Associate Editor for Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and sits on the editorial board on The Obstetrician & Gynaecologist.
Dr Abha Govind is a consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at North Middlesex University Hospital London, an Honorary Senior Lecturer at University College London and Associate Professor at St George’s International School of Medicine. Her interests include high-risk obstetrics, obstetric ultrasound scanning, reproductive endocrinology, and sexual and reproductive health. She has held many varied clinical, educational and management posts and has been faculty on numerous Royal College of Gynaecology (RCOG) written and practical examinations. She also teaches on the RCOG Virtual Revision Course and the Basic Practical Skills course. She has over 50 PubMed listed publications and is a co-author of a book titled “How to perform operative procedures in Obstetrics and Gynaecology”.
Disclosure statement: Dr Yoong is a Trustee of the Haemorrhage After Childbirth Foundation and sits on various committees of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. Dr Govind declares no conflict of interest.
