The impact of the COVID-19 shutdown on US pediatric ophthalmologists

Shira L Robbins; Eric A Packwood; Lance M Siegel; AAPOS Socioeconomic Committee

doi:10.1016/j.jaapos.2020.06.002

The impact of the COVID-19 shutdown on US pediatric ophthalmologists

J AAPOS. 2020 Aug;24(4):189-194. doi: 10.1016/j.jaapos.2020.06.002. Epub 2020 Jul 27.

Authors

Shira L Robbins¹, Eric A Packwood², Lance M Siegel³; AAPOS Socioeconomic Committee

Collaborators

AAPOS Socioeconomic Committee:
Robert Arnold, Michael Bartiss, Angela N Buffenn, Brian Campolattaro, Christopher Gappy, Corina Gerontis, Jonathan Go, Kartik Kumar, Carolyn Lederman, Danielle Ledoux, Eric Lichtenstein, Eric Packwood, Joseph Paviglianiti, Andrew Reynolds, Shira L Robbins, Lance Siegel, Julia Stevens, Ron Teed, Ben Ticho, Lisa Vredevoogd

Affiliations

¹ Ratner Children's Eye Center of the Viterbi Family Department of Ophthalmology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California. Electronic address: srobbins@ucsd.edu.
² Pediatric Eye Specialists, Fort Worth, Texas.
³ Department of Ophthalmology, Children's Hospital of Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California; Children's Eye Institute, Upland, California.

Abstract

In recent months, the COVID-19 pandemic has threatened the financial viability of pediatric ophthalmology practices. To measure the economic impact, the American Association of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus (AAPOS) Socio-economic Committee surveyed current US members at the peak of the COVID shutdown, in April 2020. With a robust response rate, the survey portrays that some pediatric ophthalmology practices are ominously strained, if not irreparably harmed.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

COVID-19 / epidemiology*
Child
Humans
Ophthalmologists / statistics & numerical data*
Ophthalmology*
Pandemics*
SARS-CoV-2*
Social Isolation*
Societies, Medical*
United States