BACKGROUND: The Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak is putting the European National Health Systems under pressure. Interestingly, Emergency Department (ED) referrals for other reasons than COVID-19 seem to have declined steeply. In the present paper, we aimed to verify how the COVID-19 outbreak changed ED referral pattern. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the clinical records of patients referred to the ED of a University Hospital in Northern Italy from 1 March to 13 April 2020. We compared the following data with those belonging to the same period in 2019: number of EDs accesses, rate of hospital admission, frequencies of the most common causes of ED referral, priority codes of access. RESULTS: The number of ED referrals during the COVID-19 outbreak was markedly reduced when compared to the same period in 2019 (3059 vs. 5691; -46.3%). Conversely, the rate of hospital admission raised from 16.9% to 35.4% (P<0.0001), with a shift toward higher priority codes of ED admission. In 2020, we observed both a reduction of the number of patients referred for both traumatic (513, 16.8% vs. 1544, 27.1%; χ2=118.7, P<0.0001) and non-traumatic (4147 vs. 2546) conditions. Among the latter, suspected COVID-19 accounted for 1101 (43.2%) accesses. CONCLUSIONS: The COVID-19 pandemic completely changed the pattern of ED referral in Italy, with a marked reduction of the accesses to the hospitals. This could be related to a limited exposure to traumas and to a common fear of being infected during EDs in-stay. This may limit the misuse of EDs for non-urgent conditions but may also delay proper referrals for urgent conditions.
BACKGROUND: The Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak is putting the European National Health Systems under pressure. Interestingly, Emergency Department (ED) referrals for other reasons than COVID-19 seem to have declined steeply. In the present paper, we aimed to verify how the COVID-19 outbreak changed ED referral pattern. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the clinical records of patients referred to the ED of a University Hospital in Northern Italy from 1 March to 13 April 2020. We compared the following data with those belonging to the same period in 2019: number of EDs accesses, rate of hospital admission, frequencies of the most common causes of ED referral, priority codes of access. RESULTS: The number of ED referrals during the COVID-19 outbreak was markedly reduced when compared to the same period in 2019 (3059 vs. 5691; -46.3%). Conversely, the rate of hospital admission raised from 16.9% to 35.4% (P<0.0001), with a shift toward higher priority codes of ED admission. In 2020, we observed both a reduction of the number of patients referred for both traumatic (513, 16.8% vs. 1544, 27.1%; χ2=118.7, P<0.0001) and non-traumatic (4147 vs. 2546) conditions. Among the latter, suspected COVID-19 accounted for 1101 (43.2%) accesses. CONCLUSIONS: The COVID-19 pandemic completely changed the pattern of ED referral in Italy, with a marked reduction of the accesses to the hospitals. This could be related to a limited exposure to traumas and to a common fear of being infected during EDs in-stay. This may limit the misuse of EDs for non-urgent conditions but may also delay proper referrals for urgent conditions.
Authors: Irene Raffaldi; Emanuele Castagno; Ilaria Fumi; Claudia Bondone; Fulvio Ricceri; Luigi Besenzon; Adalberto Brach Del Prever; Pina Capalbo; Gianluca Cosi; Enrico Felici; Patrizia Fusco; Maria Rita Gallina; Franco Garofalo; Paola Gianino; Andrea Guala; Oscar Haitink; Paolo Manzoni; Antonio Marra; Ivana Rabbone; Luca Roasio; Savino Santovito; Alberto Serra; Eleonora Tappi; Gian Maria Terragni; Fabio S Timeus; Flaminia Torielli; Alessandro Vigo; Antonio F Urbino Journal: Lancet Reg Health Eur Date: 2021-03-18
Authors: Ante Šokota; Laura Prtorić; Iva Hojsak; Ivana Trivić; Filip Jurić; Kristina Lah Tomulić; Jelena Roganović; Harry Nikolić; Ana Bosak Veršić; Joško Markić; Marijan Batinić; Goran Tešović Journal: Croat Med J Date: 2021-12-31 Impact factor: 1.351
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Authors: Quoc Dung Nguyen; Jason Diab; David Khaicy; Vanessa Diab; Zachias Hopkins; Lai Heng Foong; Christophe R Berney Journal: J Surg Case Rep Date: 2022-02-06