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Effect of coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on orthopedic trauma patients presenting in the emergency department of a maximum care hospital and level 1 trauma center

INTRODUCTION: While overcrowding of emergency departments was often reported in the recent years, during the early phase of the pandemic, a reduction in patient numbers was seen. The aim of the current study was to describe the orthopedic trauma patient cohort presenting to the emergency department...

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Autores principales: Frink, M., Ketter, V., Klama, N., Knauf, T., Betz, S., Ruchholtz, S., Aigner, R.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8576456/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34751810
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00402-021-04234-y
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author Frink, M.
Ketter, V.
Klama, N.
Knauf, T.
Betz, S.
Ruchholtz, S.
Aigner, R.
author_facet Frink, M.
Ketter, V.
Klama, N.
Knauf, T.
Betz, S.
Ruchholtz, S.
Aigner, R.
author_sort Frink, M.
collection PubMed
description INTRODUCTION: While overcrowding of emergency departments was often reported in the recent years, during the early phase of the pandemic, a reduction in patient numbers was seen. The aim of the current study was to describe the orthopedic trauma patient cohort presenting to the emergency department (ED) during the early pandemic period as compared to the cohort from the analogue time period 2019. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A single-center case–control study was performed. All the consecutive orthopedic trauma patients > 12 years presenting to the ED were included. Patients in the same time period in 2019 served as the control group. RESULTS: Compared to 2019, in 2020, 33% less patients presented in the emergency department. Patients treated in 2020 were significantly older, significantly more often brought to ED by emergency medical services and significantly more often admitted. The number of fractures and diagnoses requiring surgical treatment decreased only slightly and the proportion of these patients among all the patients was significantly higher during the pandemic than in the control period. Furthermore, a higher percentage of polytrauma patients could be found in 2020 as well. Analysis of Manchester Triage System showed significantly less not urgent patients in 2020. CONCLUSION: The present study shows a significant decline in the number of patients treated in the ED during the pandemic period but at the same time almost identical numbers of patients with fractures or diagnoses requiring surgical treatment. In the context of an overall decline in patient numbers, a stronger concentration on level 1 trauma centers seems to be evident during the pandemic.
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spelling pubmed-85764562021-11-09 Effect of coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on orthopedic trauma patients presenting in the emergency department of a maximum care hospital and level 1 trauma center Frink, M. Ketter, V. Klama, N. Knauf, T. Betz, S. Ruchholtz, S. Aigner, R. Arch Orthop Trauma Surg Orthopaedic Surgery INTRODUCTION: While overcrowding of emergency departments was often reported in the recent years, during the early phase of the pandemic, a reduction in patient numbers was seen. The aim of the current study was to describe the orthopedic trauma patient cohort presenting to the emergency department (ED) during the early pandemic period as compared to the cohort from the analogue time period 2019. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A single-center case–control study was performed. All the consecutive orthopedic trauma patients > 12 years presenting to the ED were included. Patients in the same time period in 2019 served as the control group. RESULTS: Compared to 2019, in 2020, 33% less patients presented in the emergency department. Patients treated in 2020 were significantly older, significantly more often brought to ED by emergency medical services and significantly more often admitted. The number of fractures and diagnoses requiring surgical treatment decreased only slightly and the proportion of these patients among all the patients was significantly higher during the pandemic than in the control period. Furthermore, a higher percentage of polytrauma patients could be found in 2020 as well. Analysis of Manchester Triage System showed significantly less not urgent patients in 2020. CONCLUSION: The present study shows a significant decline in the number of patients treated in the ED during the pandemic period but at the same time almost identical numbers of patients with fractures or diagnoses requiring surgical treatment. In the context of an overall decline in patient numbers, a stronger concentration on level 1 trauma centers seems to be evident during the pandemic. Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2021-11-09 2023 /pmc/articles/PMC8576456/ /pubmed/34751810 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00402-021-04234-y Text en © The Author(s) 2021 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) .
spellingShingle Orthopaedic Surgery
Frink, M.
Ketter, V.
Klama, N.
Knauf, T.
Betz, S.
Ruchholtz, S.
Aigner, R.
Effect of coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on orthopedic trauma patients presenting in the emergency department of a maximum care hospital and level 1 trauma center
title Effect of coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on orthopedic trauma patients presenting in the emergency department of a maximum care hospital and level 1 trauma center
title_full Effect of coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on orthopedic trauma patients presenting in the emergency department of a maximum care hospital and level 1 trauma center
title_fullStr Effect of coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on orthopedic trauma patients presenting in the emergency department of a maximum care hospital and level 1 trauma center
title_full_unstemmed Effect of coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on orthopedic trauma patients presenting in the emergency department of a maximum care hospital and level 1 trauma center
title_short Effect of coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on orthopedic trauma patients presenting in the emergency department of a maximum care hospital and level 1 trauma center
title_sort effect of coronavirus (covid-19) pandemic on orthopedic trauma patients presenting in the emergency department of a maximum care hospital and level 1 trauma center
topic Orthopaedic Surgery
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8576456/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34751810
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00402-021-04234-y
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