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The Impact of COVID-19 on the Service of Emergency Department

(1) Introduction: the COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted the number and acuity of emergency departments (ED) patients, specifically those with non-COVID-19-related health problems. However, the exact impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on ED services is the subject of comprehensive debate. (2) Aim...

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Autores principales: Alharthi, Shaia, Al-Moteri, Modi, Plummer, Virginia, Al Thobiaty, Abdulellah
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8544500/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34682975
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9101295
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author Alharthi, Shaia
Al-Moteri, Modi
Plummer, Virginia
Al Thobiaty, Abdulellah
author_facet Alharthi, Shaia
Al-Moteri, Modi
Plummer, Virginia
Al Thobiaty, Abdulellah
author_sort Alharthi, Shaia
collection PubMed
description (1) Introduction: the COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted the number and acuity of emergency departments (ED) patients, specifically those with non-COVID-19-related health problems. However, the exact impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on ED services is the subject of comprehensive debate. (2) Aim: to gain insight into the consequences of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic based on non-COVID-19 presentations and patient acuity using the Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale (CTAS). (3) Method: in Phase 1, the ED records of one of the main regional non-COVID-19 hospitals in Saudi Arabia were retrospectively audited from August 2020 to February 2021—after the first wave of COVID-19—then compared to information collected for the same period in previous year. Phase 2 included calculating the waiting time to identify delays and issues that may impact the triage effectiveness. (4) Results: a change across all CTAS levels was observed post the 1st wave of COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, there was an increase in the number of patients presenting as higher acuity (CTAS 1 and 2) and a decrease in patients presenting as lower acuity (CTAS 4 and 5). Longer waiting times for patients presenting to ED were also reported. Specifically, 83% of patients presenting as higher acuity experienced a delay. (5) Conclusion: further studies are required to investigate association between the 1st wave of COVID-19 and patient presentations and/or acuity or patient demand and ED capacity.
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spelling pubmed-85445002021-10-26 The Impact of COVID-19 on the Service of Emergency Department Alharthi, Shaia Al-Moteri, Modi Plummer, Virginia Al Thobiaty, Abdulellah Healthcare (Basel) Article (1) Introduction: the COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted the number and acuity of emergency departments (ED) patients, specifically those with non-COVID-19-related health problems. However, the exact impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on ED services is the subject of comprehensive debate. (2) Aim: to gain insight into the consequences of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic based on non-COVID-19 presentations and patient acuity using the Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale (CTAS). (3) Method: in Phase 1, the ED records of one of the main regional non-COVID-19 hospitals in Saudi Arabia were retrospectively audited from August 2020 to February 2021—after the first wave of COVID-19—then compared to information collected for the same period in previous year. Phase 2 included calculating the waiting time to identify delays and issues that may impact the triage effectiveness. (4) Results: a change across all CTAS levels was observed post the 1st wave of COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, there was an increase in the number of patients presenting as higher acuity (CTAS 1 and 2) and a decrease in patients presenting as lower acuity (CTAS 4 and 5). Longer waiting times for patients presenting to ED were also reported. Specifically, 83% of patients presenting as higher acuity experienced a delay. (5) Conclusion: further studies are required to investigate association between the 1st wave of COVID-19 and patient presentations and/or acuity or patient demand and ED capacity. MDPI 2021-09-29 /pmc/articles/PMC8544500/ /pubmed/34682975 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9101295 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Alharthi, Shaia
Al-Moteri, Modi
Plummer, Virginia
Al Thobiaty, Abdulellah
The Impact of COVID-19 on the Service of Emergency Department
title The Impact of COVID-19 on the Service of Emergency Department
title_full The Impact of COVID-19 on the Service of Emergency Department
title_fullStr The Impact of COVID-19 on the Service of Emergency Department
title_full_unstemmed The Impact of COVID-19 on the Service of Emergency Department
title_short The Impact of COVID-19 on the Service of Emergency Department
title_sort impact of covid-19 on the service of emergency department
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8544500/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34682975
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9101295
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