Özet:

Objective: Coronavirus disease-2019 has resulted in changes in healthcare and management services. One of these changes is related to in patient presentation to emergency departments (ED). This study aimed to investigate the rate of recurrent presentations to an ED during the pandemic period compared to the pre-pandemic period. Materials and Methods: Patients that presented to the ED of a tertiary hospital again within 72 hours of their first visit were screened from the hospital information management system for the pre pandemic (June 1-November 30, 2019) and pandemic (June 1-November 30, 2020) periods. So, hospitalization rates were compared between the two periods. Results: In the pre-pandemic period, the number of ED registrations was 67,414, of which 3,463 belonged to recurrent presentations, while in the pandemic period, these numbers were determined as 43,636 and 2,238, respectively. The rate of admission to any hospital ward (n=521, 16.4%) or the intensive care unit (n=56, 1.8%) nearly doubled during the pandemic. Six of these patients died in the ED in the pandemic period, while no death was observed in the pre-pandemic period. Conclusion: Although there was a decrease in the number of both hospital and ED presentations during the pandemic, an increase was observed in the number of patients with recurrent presentations to the ED. As a result of this patient group postponing visits to the hospital for their acute problems due to the fear of being infected, their need for hospitalization and intensive care follow-up increased.

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