How Have Visits to the Outpatient Clinic and Emergency Unit of a Tertiary Hospital Changed during the COVID-19 Pandemic?

Objective: In this study, determined the attributes of non-Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) patients and the changes in visits to the emergency service and outpatient departments, hospital admissions and the number of performed surgeries in a tertiary hospital in Turkey during the first weeks of the COVID-19 outbreak. Additionally, the effect of this situation on the hospital’s current balance was aimed be analyzed and compared with the same period of the previous year.
Methods: Emergency services outpatient clinics hospitalization, surgery and checking account balance data from 2019April to 2020 April (excluding data of those diagnosed with COVID-19) were retrospectively analyzed. Data were statistically compared using the Mann-Whitney U test and analyzed in subgroups.
Results: All parameters declined during the pandemic period and only the decrease in the number of operations was not statistically significant. Particularly, approximately an 8-fold decrease was observed in the checking account balance.
Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic has had devastating effects worldwide and these effects persist. It disrupts all the routine practices of hospitals, from emergency services to surgeries. Many hospitals in Turkey have been declared as pandemic hospitals and only patients who presented with emergency conditions can be intervened on. A similar situation occurred in our hospital and a significant decrease was observed in all parameters.