What will the endometriosis community learn from the
COVID-19 experience?
This pandemic has been, and remains to be, a very difficult period for
individuals with endometriosis. However, this panel believes the
consequences of the pandemic will yield a change in how clinical
medicine for endometriosis is conducted. Firstly, there may be an
ongoing openness to telehealth. This could dramatically minimise the
geographic barriers to care that many women experience and facilitate
the development of endometriosis networks of expertise, which is
recommended by the World Endometriosis Society.8Telehealth may also be an appropriate alternative for patients with pain
that limits their ability to travel to their healthcare provider in some
settings. Second, there may be increased awareness to self-management
strategies that have always existed, yet were under-utilised. Finally,
the current situation mandates a more discerning approach to surgery now
and in the future, so that we ‘operate sparingly and operate well’. This
approach can be guided by preoperative triaging tools including advanced
clinical algorithms and imaging strategies10 to avoid
multiple repeated surgical procedures.