The effect of Covid-19 pandemi on the number of patients, level of severity and disposition time of patients referred to the emergency department

Abstract

People should be aware of the safe hospital environment and the low risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission. However, it should be borne in mind that there is a great deal of fear that keeps patients away from the treatment environment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the extent, cause and severity of the disease in non-coronary patients who referred to the emergency department during the Covid pandemic and to evaluate the emergency indicators at that time.

Methods: This study is a cross-sectional descriptive-analytical study with field sampling method. Patients who met the inclusion criteria are included in the study. All data including age, sex, reason for referral and severity of the disease, length of time until hospitalization and time taken until discharge from the emergency room, discharge rate and personal satisfaction were recorded in the checklist. Data were extracted in the last 2 time periods, 6 months from the beginning of March 2020 to the beginning of August 2019 and 5 months from the beginning of March 2020 to the beginning of August 2020 were selected for time matching.

Results: In this study, during the second 6 months of 1398, when the wave of infection with Covid-19 had not yet reached the country and the city of Tabriz, 68394 female patients and 78867 male patients were referred. During the first 6 months of 1399, the number of female patients was 40820 and Male patients referred 57,664, of which about 27,574 were female patients and 21,203 were male patients. In examining the rate of assigning patients in 6 hours and leaving the emergency room during 12 hours in all months is almost equal and has not been affected by a pandemic, which indicates the proper functioning of the emergency department despite the occurrence of a pandemic. In comparison between the two groups of patients, the number of female patients referred to the emergency department during the Covid-19 pandemic has significantly decreased, but the number of male patients, despite the decrease in the number of patients, does not show a significant difference. Determining the homework of patients under 6 hours and leaving the emergency room of patients under 12 hours does not show a significant difference between the two categories. Withdrawal of patients with personal satisfaction has decreased significantly. In the second 6 months of 1398, withdrawal with personal satisfaction of patients has decreased by an average of 16.43% and in the first 6 months this number has decreased to 8.63%.