When fear backfires: Emergency department accesses during the Covid-19 pandemic.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

The increase in access to Emergency Departments (ED) worldwide causes inefficiencies, but also signals its importance. The Coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak allows to study the reactions of patients to the news about the spreading of the infection, which may have generated the fear that ED was no longer safe.

Methods

We study access to ED of a large teaching hospital in Brescia - one of the most hit provinces in Italy by Covid-19 - during the pandemic (from the announcement of the first cases to the explosion of the pandemic, to months after end of the acute phase) to study how patients reacted to the news that ED could no longer be a safe place. We analyse triage code, mode of arrival to ED, and accesses related to chest and abdominal pain, to evaluate who was di

SUBMITTER: Garrafa E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7584647 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature