Revista nº 815

CHANGES IN THE PATTERN OF USE OF THE EMERGENCY DEPARTMENTS IN AN SPANISH OVERSATURATED TERTIARY HOSPITAL COMPLEX DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC CAMBIOS EN EL PATRÓN DE USO DE LOS SERVICIOS DE UR- GENCIAS EN UN COMPLEJO HOSPITALARIO TERCIARIO ESPA- ÑOL SOBRESATURADO DURANTE LA PANDEMIA DE COVID-19 Lacorzana, Javier 1, 2, 3 ; Gonzalez-Andrades, Miguel 4, † ; Ortiz-Perez, Santiago 1, † 1. Department of Ophthalmology, Virgen de las Nieves University Hospital, Granada, Spain. 2. Department of Ophthalmology, San Juan de la Cruz Hospital, Úbeda, Spain. 3. Doctoral Program in Clinical Medicine and Public Health, University of Granada, Spain. 4. Maimonides Biomedical Research Institute of Cordoba (IMIBIC), Department of Ophthalmology, Reina Sofia University Hospital and University of Cordoba. Recibido: 28/06/2021 | Revisado: 15/01/2022 | Aceptado: 02/03/2022 DOI:10.15568/am.2022.815. or03 Original Javier Lacorzana, MD Virgen de las Nieves University Hospital Av. de las Fuerzas Armadas, 2 · 18014 Granada E-mail: javilacor@gmail.com Correspondencia ABSTRACT Background and objectives: To analyze the effects of COVID-19 in the pattern of use (number of admissions, hospitalizations, hospitalization ratio, and classification by priorities) of Emergency Departments (EDs) of one tertiary referral hospital. Methods: Retrospective, observational and single-center study, carried on in the EDs of Virgen de las Nieves Hospital Complex (Granada, Spain). The information was collected from the three hospitals which belong to the Virgen de las Nieves Hospital complex (i.e. the General Hospital, GH; the Children’s Hospital, CH; and the Neuro-Trauma Hospital, NTH) from February 1st to July 31st, 2019, and 2020. Results: In the period under analysis, there were 71236 admissions compared with 118382 in the same period in 2019, which means an overall reduction of 38.83%. Considering the hospitalizations, there were 6841 compared with 7648 (2020 and 2019, respectively) which gives an overall reduction of 10.55%. The distribution of the priorities did not show a defined pattern; while CH and NTH’s EDs showed clear changes in their distribution, no notable changes were observed in GH’s ED. Conclusion: The Covid-19 Pandemic changed dramatically the pattern of ED referral in our tertiary referral hospital. A noticeable reduction of admissions and hospitalizations were reported, together with a pronounced increase in the hospitalization ratio that in some cases reached almost 50%. This could be explaining for many reasons, such as the fear of contagion and the lockdown that presumably caused a decrease in the less-severe cases attended. Possibly, the effects of COVID-19 may have been indirectly influenced by the health care system of each country. The COVID-19 pandemic constitutes one of the greatest challenges in modern medicine, understanding better these changes and the impact that COVID-19 has caused on pattern of use of EDs will probably lead us to manage and use better our public health systems in the future. RESUMEN Antecedentes y objetivos: Analizar los efectos de la COVID-19 en el patrón de uso (número de pacientes atendidos en urgencias, hospitalizaciones, ratio de hospitalización y clasificación por prioridades) de los Servicios de Urgencias (SU) de un hospital terciario de referencia. Métodos: Estudio retrospectivo, observacional y monocéntrico, realizado en los SU del Complejo Hospitalario Virgen de las Nieves (Granada, España). La información se recogió en los tres hospitales que pertenecen al Complejo Hospitalario Virgen de las Nieves (es decir, el Hospital General, GH; el Hospital Infantil, CH; y el Hospital Neurotraumatológico, NTH) desde el 1 de febrero hasta el 31 de julio de 2019 y 2020. Palabras clave: Urgencias; COVID; Coronavirus; Patrón de ingreso; España. Keywords: Emergency departments; COVID; Coronavirus; Admission pattern; Spain Actual Med.2022;107(815):27- 33 † These authors contributed equally.