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Lam C, Yen JC, Wu CC, Lin HY, Hsu MH. Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Treatment Efficiency for Traumatic Brain Injury in the Emergency Department: A Multicenter Study in Taiwan. J Clin Med 2021; 10:jcm10225314. [PMID: 34830592 PMCID: PMC8621260 DOI: 10.3390/jcm10225314] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2021] [Revised: 11/09/2021] [Accepted: 11/09/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has impacted emergency department (ED) practice, including the treatment of traumatic brain injury (TBI), which is commonly encountered in the ED. Our study aimed to evaluate TBI treatment efficiency in the ED during the COVID-19 pandemic. A retrospective observational study was conducted using the electronic medical records from three hospitals in metropolitan Taipei, Taiwan. The time from ED arrival to brain computed tomography (CT) and the time from ED arrival to surgical management were used as measures of treatment efficiency. TBI treatment efficiencies in the ED coinciding with a small-scale local COVID-19 outbreak in 2020 (P1) and large-scale community spread in 2021 (P2) were compared against the pre-pandemic efficiency recorded in 2019. The interval between ED arrival and brain CT was significantly shortened during P1 and P2 compared with the pre-pandemic interval, and no significant delay between ED arrival and surgical management was found, indicating increased treatment efficiency for TBI in the ED during the COVID-19 pandemic. Minimizing viral spread in the community and the hospital is vital to maintaining ED treatment efficiency and capacity. The ED should retain sufficient capacity to treat older patients with serious TBI during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carlos Lam
- Emergency Department, Wan Fang Hospital, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 11696, Taiwan; (C.L.); (C.-C.W.)
- Department of Emergency, School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 11030, Taiwan
| | - Ju-Chuan Yen
- Department of Ophthalmology, Taipei City Hospital, Renai Branch, Taipei 10629, Taiwan;
- Graduate Institute of Biomedical Informatics, College of Medical Technology, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 11030, Taiwan
| | - Chia-Chieh Wu
- Emergency Department, Wan Fang Hospital, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 11696, Taiwan; (C.L.); (C.-C.W.)
- Department of Emergency, School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 11030, Taiwan
| | - Heng-Yu Lin
- School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 11030, Taiwan;
| | - Min-Huei Hsu
- Graduate Institute of Data Science, College of Management, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 11030, Taiwan
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +886-2-66382736 (ext. 1105)
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