Burnout among surgeons before and during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: an international survey

Background: SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has had many significant impacts within the surgical realm, and surgeons have been obligated to reconsider almost every aspect of daily clinical practice. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study reported in compliance with the CHERRIES guidelines and conducted through an online platform from June 14th to July 15th, 2020. The primary outcome was the burden of burnout during the pandemic indicated by the validated Shirom-Melamed Burnout Measure. Results: Nine hundred fifty-four surgeons completed the survey. The median length of practice was 10 years; 78.2% included were male with a median age of 37 years old, 39.5% were consultants, 68.9% were general surgeons, and 55.7% were affiliated with an academic institution. Overall, there was a significant increase in the mean burnout score during the pandemic; longer years of practice and older age were significantly associated with less burnout. There were significant reductions in the median number of outpatient visits, operated cases, on-call hours, emergency visits, and research work, so, 48.2% of respondents felt that the training resources were insufficient. The majority (81.3%) of respondents reported that their hospitals were included in the management of COVID-19, 66.5% felt their roles had been minimized; 41% were asked to assist in non-surgical medical practices, and 37.6% of respondents were included in COVID-19 management. Conclusions: There was a significant burnout among trainees. Almost all aspects of clinical and research activities were affected with a significant reduction in the volume of research, outpatient clinic visits, surgical procedures, on-call hours, and emergency cases hindering the training. Trial registration: The study was registered on clicaltrials.gov "NCT04433286" on 16/06/2020

Some risk factors of chronic gastroenteritis among preschool children in a rural area in Basyun District, Gharbia governorate

Background: Gastroenteritis, also known as infectious diarrhea, is inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract the stomach and small intestine. Symptoms may include diarrhea, vomiting and abdominal pain. The aim of this work was to reduce morbidity and mortality from chronic gastroenteritis among preschool children. Methods: This case control study was carried out on 100 study children < five years having chronic gastroenteritis and 100 control children were healthy children chosen randomly from children attending nurseries and from the same family health care unit, they were matched by age and sex with cases. Results: Age of child, residence, fathers education and job and mothers age and education were not found to significantly affect occurrence of chronic diarrhea among studied children. Crowding index and family size had high odds ratio whereas the odds of exposure to a high crowding index (more than or equal to 2) among cases were double that among the control. Odds of exposure to a large family size (more than or equal to 5) among cases were double that among the control (p>0.05). Fathers age >40 years in cases was 25% which was higher than 13% of control (OR=2.231).&nbsp