COVID-19 at the emergency department

Abstract

Backround  & objectıves: The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has effected the emergency departments of turkish healthcare system as adversely as elsewhere. There was a huge influx of patients as well as their presentations, and the outcomes.  This study intended to document the predicted general information about COVID-19 and patient characteristics.

Methodology: All admitting COVID-19 assumed cases were included from March 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020, at the adult emergency departments of Sakarya Training and Research Hospital.

Results: A total of 92161 patients presumed to have COVID-19 presented to the emergency room. Out of these, 51719 (56.1%) patients were male, the mean age was 40 y, inpatients' mean age was 63 y; the mean age the patients who died was 74 y. Majority of them [90382 (98.1%)] was Turkish citizens, and 1779 (1.9%) were foreign nationals. Of all patients, 87914 (95.4%) reached the emergency room by their private means, and 4247 (4.6%) arrived by an ambulance. A total of 6154 (6.7%) patients were hospitalised; a meaningful relationship was found between the patients' age and hospitalisation status (p = 0.001). The mortality within the emergency service was 126 (0.1%). The real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests result were positive of 28,847 (31.3%) patients.

Conclusion: Approximately 1/3rd of the patients with COVID-19 symptoms had a positive test result, making emergency departments important places for managing the pandemic. To prevent too many patients from presenting to the emergency departments, that may be beneficial to refer patients who have COVID-19 symptoms to units other than the emergency department.

Key words: Emergency room; COVID-19; Pandemic

Citation: Ensar ED, Guneysu F. COVID-19 at the emergency department. Anaesth. pain intensive care 2021;25(3):318–323. DOI: doi.org/10.35975/apic.v25i3.1530

Received: February 16, 2021; Reviewed: February 18,  2021; Accepted: March 10, 2021