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Differences in Characteristics and Length of Stay of Elderly Emergency Patients before and after the Outbreak of COVID-19

(1) Background: COVID-19 has spread worldwide and affected Taiwan’s medical system and people’s lives. This study aimed to explore the impact of medical utilization on the characteristics and length of stay (LOS) of elderly emergency department (ED) patients before and after COVID-19; (2) Methods: W...

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Autores principales: Juang, Wang-Chuan, Chiou, Sonia Ming-Jiu, Chen, Hsien-Chih, Li, Ying-Chun
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9859462/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36673917
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20021162
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author Juang, Wang-Chuan
Chiou, Sonia Ming-Jiu
Chen, Hsien-Chih
Li, Ying-Chun
author_facet Juang, Wang-Chuan
Chiou, Sonia Ming-Jiu
Chen, Hsien-Chih
Li, Ying-Chun
author_sort Juang, Wang-Chuan
collection PubMed
description (1) Background: COVID-19 has spread worldwide and affected Taiwan’s medical system and people’s lives. This study aimed to explore the impact of medical utilization on the characteristics and length of stay (LOS) of elderly emergency department (ED) patients before and after COVID-19; (2) Methods: We gathered ED visits from January to September 2019 (pre-pandemic group) and from January to September 2020 (pandemic group). The data analysis methods included descriptive statistics, the Pearson’s chi-square test, the independent sample t-test, and binary logistic regression; (3) Results: In 2020, during COVID-19, a significant decrease in ED monthly visits occurred from January; the maximum decrease was 32% in March. The average LOS during COVID-19 was shortened, with a significant reduction in diagnoses compared with the pre-pandemic period; (4) Conclusions: The threat of COVID-19 has changed the elderly’s behavior in ED visits and shortened the LOS of ED. The study’s results emphasize the importance of analyzing the medical utilization of elderly ED patients and understanding the medical quality of healthcare institutions. With Taiwan’s rapidly aging society, the demand for healthcare increases from time to time. The overcrowding of medical attention is often a problem. The results recommend that the overcrowding problem has the opportunity to be solved.
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spelling pubmed-98594622023-01-21 Differences in Characteristics and Length of Stay of Elderly Emergency Patients before and after the Outbreak of COVID-19 Juang, Wang-Chuan Chiou, Sonia Ming-Jiu Chen, Hsien-Chih Li, Ying-Chun Int J Environ Res Public Health Article (1) Background: COVID-19 has spread worldwide and affected Taiwan’s medical system and people’s lives. This study aimed to explore the impact of medical utilization on the characteristics and length of stay (LOS) of elderly emergency department (ED) patients before and after COVID-19; (2) Methods: We gathered ED visits from January to September 2019 (pre-pandemic group) and from January to September 2020 (pandemic group). The data analysis methods included descriptive statistics, the Pearson’s chi-square test, the independent sample t-test, and binary logistic regression; (3) Results: In 2020, during COVID-19, a significant decrease in ED monthly visits occurred from January; the maximum decrease was 32% in March. The average LOS during COVID-19 was shortened, with a significant reduction in diagnoses compared with the pre-pandemic period; (4) Conclusions: The threat of COVID-19 has changed the elderly’s behavior in ED visits and shortened the LOS of ED. The study’s results emphasize the importance of analyzing the medical utilization of elderly ED patients and understanding the medical quality of healthcare institutions. With Taiwan’s rapidly aging society, the demand for healthcare increases from time to time. The overcrowding of medical attention is often a problem. The results recommend that the overcrowding problem has the opportunity to be solved. MDPI 2023-01-09 /pmc/articles/PMC9859462/ /pubmed/36673917 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20021162 Text en © 2023 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
Juang, Wang-Chuan
Chiou, Sonia Ming-Jiu
Chen, Hsien-Chih
Li, Ying-Chun
Differences in Characteristics and Length of Stay of Elderly Emergency Patients before and after the Outbreak of COVID-19
title Differences in Characteristics and Length of Stay of Elderly Emergency Patients before and after the Outbreak of COVID-19
title_full Differences in Characteristics and Length of Stay of Elderly Emergency Patients before and after the Outbreak of COVID-19
title_fullStr Differences in Characteristics and Length of Stay of Elderly Emergency Patients before and after the Outbreak of COVID-19
title_full_unstemmed Differences in Characteristics and Length of Stay of Elderly Emergency Patients before and after the Outbreak of COVID-19
title_short Differences in Characteristics and Length of Stay of Elderly Emergency Patients before and after the Outbreak of COVID-19
title_sort differences in characteristics and length of stay of elderly emergency patients before and after the outbreak of covid-19
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9859462/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36673917
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20021162
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