Temel B, Orenay OM, Karaosmanoglu N. Comparative Evaluation of Dermatological Emergency Consultations in the Coronavirus Pandemic Era: Tertiary Clinic Experience.
Dermatol Pract Concept 2023;
13:dpc.1301a112. [PMID:
36892355 PMCID:
PMC9946086 DOI:
10.5826/dpc.1301a112]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/16/2022] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION
Due to the increase in COVID-19 patients during the pandemic, the workload of emergency departments has increased. The profile of patients seeking non-COVID medical care has changed significantly because of the pandemic; this includes dermatological emergencies.
OBJECTIVE
The aim was to evaluate and compare adult dermatological emergency consultations during the COVID-19 period with the pre-pandemic period.
METHODS
Consulted patients from ED to dermatology between March 11, 2019, and March 11, 2021 were included (Pre-pandemic and pandemic). Age, gender, zone of triage, consultation hour, consultation date, consultation response time, ICD-10 codes were recorded.
RESULTS
The total number of consultations was 639. The mean age of the patients was 44.4 in the pre-pandemic period and 46.1 in the pandemic period. The mean consultation response time was 44.4 minutes in the pre-pandemic period and 60.3 minutes in the pandemic. In the pre-pandemic period, the most common consulted diseases were herpes zoster, urticaria, and allergic contact dermatitis. During the pandemic, the most common consulted diseases were herpes zoster, other dermatitis, and urticaria. There was a statistically significant difference in the incidence of other dermatitis, impetigo/folliculitis, cutaneous vasculitis, and pruritus (p<0.05) CONCLUSIONS: Emergency departments are the busiest and fastest areas of the hospital. Pandemics such as COVID-19 may also occur in the coming years. Informing society about dermatological emergencies and adding adequate dermatology training to the training of emergency physicians will facilitate appropriate patient management in emergency departments.
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