How the COVID-19 Pandemic Affected Attendance at a Tertiary Orthopedic Center Emergency Department: A Comparison between the First and Second Waves
Italy was the first European country to face the SARS-CoV-2 virus (COVID-19) pandemic in 2020. The country quickly implemented strategies to contain contagions and re-organize medical resources. We evaluated the COVID-19 effects on the activity of a tertiary-level orthopedic emergency department (ED...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2022-11-01
|
| Series: | Diagnostics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4418/12/11/2855 |
| _version_ | 1827644677652742144 |
|---|---|
| author | Eleonora Carlicchi Maria Eugenia Di Sabato Antonino Cincotta Riccardo Accetta Alberto Aliprandi Domenico Albano Luca Maria Sconfienza Carmelo Messina |
| author_facet | Eleonora Carlicchi Maria Eugenia Di Sabato Antonino Cincotta Riccardo Accetta Alberto Aliprandi Domenico Albano Luca Maria Sconfienza Carmelo Messina |
| author_sort | Eleonora Carlicchi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Italy was the first European country to face the SARS-CoV-2 virus (COVID-19) pandemic in 2020. The country quickly implemented strategies to contain contagions and re-organize medical resources. We evaluated the COVID-19 effects on the activity of a tertiary-level orthopedic emergency department (ED) during the first and second pandemic waves. We retrospectively collected and compared clinical radiological data of ED admissions during four periods: period A, first pandemic wave; period B, second pandemic wave; period C, three months before the COVID-19 outbreak; period D, same timeframe of the first wave but in 2019. During period A, we found a reduction in ED admissions (−68.2% and −59.9% compared with periods D and C) and a decrease in white codes (non-urgent) (−7.5%) compared with pre-pandemic periods, with a slight increase for all other codes: +6.3% green (urgent, not critical), +0.8% yellow (moderately critical) and +0.3% red (highly urgent, risk of death). We observed an increased rate of fracture diagnosis in period A: +14.9% and +13.3% compared with periods D and C. Our study shows that the COVID-19 pandemic caused a drastic change in the ED patient flow and clinical radiological activity, with a marked reduction in admissions and an increased rate of more severe triage codes and diagnosed fractures. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T18:23:51Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d29850c4840f4a04b427553eaff6af25 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2075-4418 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T18:23:51Z |
| publishDate | 2022-11-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Diagnostics |
| spelling | doaj.art-d29850c4840f4a04b427553eaff6af252023-11-24T08:05:25ZengMDPI AGDiagnostics2075-44182022-11-011211285510.3390/diagnostics12112855How the COVID-19 Pandemic Affected Attendance at a Tertiary Orthopedic Center Emergency Department: A Comparison between the First and Second WavesEleonora Carlicchi0Maria Eugenia Di Sabato1Antonino Cincotta2Riccardo Accetta3Alberto Aliprandi4Domenico Albano5Luca Maria Sconfienza6Carmelo Messina7Department of Radiology, ASST Grande Ospedale Metropolitano Niguarda, 20162 Milan, ItalyDepartment of Radiology, ASST Cremona, 26100 Cremona, ItalyIRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Galeazzi, 20161 Milan, ItalyUnità Operativa di Traumatologia, IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Galeazzi, 20161 Milan, ItalyUnit of Radiology, Clinical Institutes Zucchi, 20052 Monza, ItalyIRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Galeazzi, 20161 Milan, ItalyIRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Galeazzi, 20161 Milan, ItalyIRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Galeazzi, 20161 Milan, ItalyItaly was the first European country to face the SARS-CoV-2 virus (COVID-19) pandemic in 2020. The country quickly implemented strategies to contain contagions and re-organize medical resources. We evaluated the COVID-19 effects on the activity of a tertiary-level orthopedic emergency department (ED) during the first and second pandemic waves. We retrospectively collected and compared clinical radiological data of ED admissions during four periods: period A, first pandemic wave; period B, second pandemic wave; period C, three months before the COVID-19 outbreak; period D, same timeframe of the first wave but in 2019. During period A, we found a reduction in ED admissions (−68.2% and −59.9% compared with periods D and C) and a decrease in white codes (non-urgent) (−7.5%) compared with pre-pandemic periods, with a slight increase for all other codes: +6.3% green (urgent, not critical), +0.8% yellow (moderately critical) and +0.3% red (highly urgent, risk of death). We observed an increased rate of fracture diagnosis in period A: +14.9% and +13.3% compared with periods D and C. Our study shows that the COVID-19 pandemic caused a drastic change in the ED patient flow and clinical radiological activity, with a marked reduction in admissions and an increased rate of more severe triage codes and diagnosed fractures.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4418/12/11/2855COVID-19emergency departmentorthopedic radiology |
| spellingShingle | Eleonora Carlicchi Maria Eugenia Di Sabato Antonino Cincotta Riccardo Accetta Alberto Aliprandi Domenico Albano Luca Maria Sconfienza Carmelo Messina How the COVID-19 Pandemic Affected Attendance at a Tertiary Orthopedic Center Emergency Department: A Comparison between the First and Second Waves Diagnostics COVID-19 emergency department orthopedic radiology |
| title | How the COVID-19 Pandemic Affected Attendance at a Tertiary Orthopedic Center Emergency Department: A Comparison between the First and Second Waves |
| title_full | How the COVID-19 Pandemic Affected Attendance at a Tertiary Orthopedic Center Emergency Department: A Comparison between the First and Second Waves |
| title_fullStr | How the COVID-19 Pandemic Affected Attendance at a Tertiary Orthopedic Center Emergency Department: A Comparison between the First and Second Waves |
| title_full_unstemmed | How the COVID-19 Pandemic Affected Attendance at a Tertiary Orthopedic Center Emergency Department: A Comparison between the First and Second Waves |
| title_short | How the COVID-19 Pandemic Affected Attendance at a Tertiary Orthopedic Center Emergency Department: A Comparison between the First and Second Waves |
| title_sort | how the covid 19 pandemic affected attendance at a tertiary orthopedic center emergency department a comparison between the first and second waves |
| topic | COVID-19 emergency department orthopedic radiology |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4418/12/11/2855 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT eleonoracarlicchi howthecovid19pandemicaffectedattendanceatatertiaryorthopediccenteremergencydepartmentacomparisonbetweenthefirstandsecondwaves AT mariaeugeniadisabato howthecovid19pandemicaffectedattendanceatatertiaryorthopediccenteremergencydepartmentacomparisonbetweenthefirstandsecondwaves AT antoninocincotta howthecovid19pandemicaffectedattendanceatatertiaryorthopediccenteremergencydepartmentacomparisonbetweenthefirstandsecondwaves AT riccardoaccetta howthecovid19pandemicaffectedattendanceatatertiaryorthopediccenteremergencydepartmentacomparisonbetweenthefirstandsecondwaves AT albertoaliprandi howthecovid19pandemicaffectedattendanceatatertiaryorthopediccenteremergencydepartmentacomparisonbetweenthefirstandsecondwaves AT domenicoalbano howthecovid19pandemicaffectedattendanceatatertiaryorthopediccenteremergencydepartmentacomparisonbetweenthefirstandsecondwaves AT lucamariasconfienza howthecovid19pandemicaffectedattendanceatatertiaryorthopediccenteremergencydepartmentacomparisonbetweenthefirstandsecondwaves AT carmelomessina howthecovid19pandemicaffectedattendanceatatertiaryorthopediccenteremergencydepartmentacomparisonbetweenthefirstandsecondwaves |