Patients’ Perception Of Arthroplasty Delays In Italy Due To COVID-19. Uncertainty As A New State Of Mind

Italy has been one of the nations hit the hardest by the first Covid-19 wave. To face the emergency, from March until May 2020 all delayable elective surgeries were postponed in almost all hospitals and performed at a reduced pace until the end of 2020. As a result of these conditions more than 50.000 patients, mostly suffering from osteoarthritis in need of a prosthesis implantation (hip, knee, shoulder, or ankle), have not known when the surgical activity would finally resume and when they would be operated. The first studies on this subject belong to surgery literature (Cisternas et al., 2020; Wilson et al., 2020). The intention of this explorative study is to tackle the problem of the emotional status of this vulnerable group. What were their key emotions about the situation of uncertainty, how did they manage it, and how did it influence the doctor-patient relationship? Our main objective is to obtain a snapshot of the situation and to lay the basis for further considerations on what can be done to mitigate the risk of the growing disorientation on the patients' side. From a methodology point of view, the research consisted in semi-structured interviews on a sample of patients of public and private hospitals in Italy, as well as with orthopaedic surgeons members of the scientific committee of the Italian Arthroplasty Registry (RIAP). Results have been compared to the international literature on the subject. Understanding patient's perception of both their own state of health and the uncertainty of the situation might help improve the decision-making in public health, hence benefiting the quality of the care services.