Comparative Evaluation Of Dermatological Emergency Consultations In The Coronavirus Pandemic Era: Tertiary Clinic Experience

Abstract

Introduction: Due to the increase in COVID-19 patients during the pandemic, the workload of emergency departments has increased. The  profile of the patients  seeking non-COVID medical care has changed significantly because of the pandemic including the dermatological emergencies. Objective: The aim was to evaluate and compare adult dermatological emergency consultations during the COVID-19 period with pre-pandemic period. Methods:Consulted patients from ED to dermatology between March 11, 2019, and March 11, 2021 were  included (Pre-pandemic and pandemic) Age, gender, zone of triage, consultation hour,  consultation date, consultation response time, ICD-10 codes were recorded. Results: The total number of consultations were 639. The mean age of the patients in the pre-pandemic  period was 44.4 and 46.1 in the pandemic period. The mean consultation response time in the  pre-pandemic period was 44.4 minutes and 60.3 minutes in the pandemic. In the pre-pandemic period, the most common consulted diseases were herpes zoster, urticaria, and allergic contact dermatitis. In the pandemic, the most common  consulted diseases were herpes zoster, dermatitis other, and urticaria.There was a statistically significant difference of the incidence of other dermatitis, impetigo/folliculitis, cutaneous vasculitis, and pruritus (p<0.05) Conclusions: Emergency departments are the busiest and fastest areas of the hospital. Pandemics such as COVID-19 may also occur in the coming years. Informing the society about dermatological emergencies and adding adequate dermatology training to the training of emergency physicians  will facilitate appropriate patient management in emergency departments.