Does rapid discharge after breast cancer surgery have an impact on wound healing and complications? COVID‐19 pandemic experience

The COVID‐19 pandemic has challenged the health systems worldwide. Because of high volume of COVID‐19 patients, all hospitals in our region were re‐configured as COVID‐19 centres and elective surgery procedures were cancelled. Our clinic was the only active centre in the region and grave increase in our patient volume urged our clinic to modify our discharge protocol. This retrospective study included all breast cancer patients underwent mastectomy and/or axillary dissection, in the Breast Surgery Clinic of Kocaeli State Hospital, a regional pandemic hospital, between December 2020 and January 2021. Patients were mostly discharged the day of surgery with drains because of congestion, while some of the patients had traditional stay, when beds were available. The patients were evaluated postoperatively (the first 30 days) in terms of wound complications, Clavien‐Dindo classification grade, satisfaction, presence of pain and nausea, and treatment costs during the follow‐up period of the study. Outcomes were compared between early discharged patients and patients who had traditional long stay. Compared with long‐stay patients, in the early discharged group, postoperative wound complications was significantly lower (P < .01) with significant cost savings. There were no significant changes in variables such as surgery type, ASA class, satisfaction, need for additional medication and Clavien‐Dindo between the groups. Adaptation to an early discharge protocol for breast cancer surgeries may be an efficient way of practicing surgery in a pandemic. Early discharge with drains may be beneficial for patients.