Abstract
During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare facilities worldwide struggled to adequately care for the increasing number of COVID-19 patients while maintaining quality of care for all other patients. The aim of this study was to investigate the displacement and underuse of non-COVID-19 patient care in a medical department of a tertiary hospital in Switzerland. In this retrospective cross-sectional study, internal medicine admissions from 2017 to 2020, emergency outpatient visits from 2019 to 2020 and COVID-19 admissions in 2020 were analyzed and compared using a regression model. Internal medicine admissions were also stratified by diagnosis. A questionnaire was used to assess the pandemic experience of local general practitioners, referring hospitals, and nursing homes. The total number of admissions decreased during the 1st and 2nd waves of the pandemic but increased between the two waves. Elective admissions decreased in 2020 compared to pre-pandemic years: they represented 25% of total admissions in 2020 versus 30% of the total admissions during 2017–2019, p <0.001. Admissions for emergency reasons increased: 71% in 2020 versus 65% in 2017–2019, p < 0.001. Emergency outpatient consultations decreased in 2020 compared to 2019, 62.77 (14.70), mean (SD), weekly visits in 2020 versus 74.13 (13.98) in 2019, p<0.001. Most general practitioners and heads of referring hospitals also reported a decrease in consultations, especially during the 1st wave of the pandemic. Mental illnesses, anxiety or burn-out were perceived in both patients and staff in general practices and nursing homes. In conclusion, the COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected the care of non-COVID-19 patients, particularly those with chronic illnesses. A shift of health care resources from non-COVID patients to COVID patients was observed. These findings could help institutions better manage such a situation in the future.
Publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Reference36 articles.
1. Listings of WHO’s response to COVID-19 WIWAM 2021. https://www.who.int/news/item/2.-06-2020-covidtimeline. No Title.
2. Epidemiologische Zwischenbilanz zum neuen Coronavirus in der Schweiz und im Fürstentum Liechtenstein, Stand 27.04.2020, 8:00 Uhr;BAG;Bundesamt für Gesundheit, Direktionsbereich für Öffentliche Gesundh,2020
3. Admissions to Veterans Affairs Hospitals for Emergency Conditions During the COVID-19 Pandemic;A Baum;JAMA,2020
4. Numbers of emergency room patients during the COVID-19 pandemic;T Tschaikowsky;Notfall und Rettungsmedizin,2020
5. Reduction of hospitalizations for myocardial infarction in Italy in the COVID-19 era;S De Rosa;Eur Heart J,2020
Cited by
2 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献