Impact of temporary closures of emergency departments during the COVID-19 outbreak on clinical outcomes for emergency patients in a metropolitan area.

ABSTRACT:

Background

During the early phase of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, many emergency departments (EDs) were exposed to COVID-19 and were temporarily closed according to national protocol of Korea. We aimed to evaluate the effect of concurrent and recurrent temporary closures of EDs on the clinical outcomes of patients who visited EDs during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Methods

This cross-sectional study used a nationwide emergency patient database. Patients who visited one of the 46 EDs in Daegu and Gyeongbuk between January 21 and April 14, 2020 were included. The main exposure variable was the first medical contact (ED visit or 119 call to emergency medical services (EMS)) during closure of at least one ED. There were 25 temporary closures of six Level-1 and Lev

SUBMITTER: Lee DE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7962989 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature