Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Emergency Department Encounters in a Major Metropolitan Area.

BACKGROUND: The end of 2019 marked the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Public avoidance of health care facilities, including the emergency department (ED), has been noted during prior pandemics. OBJECTIVE: This study described pandemic-related changes in adult and pediatric ED presentations, acuity, and hospitalization rates during the pandemic in a major metropolitan area. METHODS: The study was a cross-sectional analysis of ED visits occurring before and during the pandemic. Sites collected daily ED patient census; monthly ED patient acuity, as the Emergency Severity Index (ESI) score; and disposition. Prepandemic ED visits occurring from January 1, 2019 through December 31, 2019 were compared with ED visits occurring during the pandemic from January 1, 2020 through March 31, 2021. The change in prepandemic and pandemic ED volume was found using 7-day moving average of proportions. RESULTS: The study enrolled 83.8% of the total ED encounters. Pandemic adult and pediatric visit volume decreased to as low as 44.7% (95% CI 43.1-46.3%; p < 0.001) and 22.1% (95% CI 19.3-26.0%; p < 0.001), respectively, of prepandemic volumes. There was also a relative increase in adult and pediatric acuity (ESI level 1-3) and the admission percentage for adult (20.3% vs. 22.9%; p < 0.01) and pediatric (5.1% vs. 5.6%; p < 0.01) populations. CONCLUSIONS: Total adult and pediatric encounters were reduced significantly across a major metropolitan area. Patient acuity and hospitalization rates were relatively increased. The development of strategies for predicting ED avoidance will be important in future pandemics.

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Emergency Department Visits: A Regional Case Study of Informatics Challenges and Opportunities.

In this paper, we examined informatics challenges and opportunities related to emergency department visit data during public health emergencies. We investigated the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the volume and acuity of adult patients visiting the emergency department (ED) of a medical center in Arizona during the pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic period. We performed a negative binomial regression analysis to understand how different public health-related mandates and statewide business opening/closing orders in Arizona affected the daily emergency department visits. The results of this study show that the average daily ED visits decreased by 20% during the COVID-19 pandemic in comparison with the same period in 2019. In addition, the business closure order had the most impact on emergency department visits in comparison to other public health mandates.

Impact of Emergency Department Phlebotomists on Left-Before-Treatment-Completion Rates.

INTRODUCTION: The emergency department (ED) serves as the primary access point to the healthcare system. ED throughput efficiency is critical. The percentage of patients who leave before treatment completion (LBTC) is an important marker of department efficiency. Our study aimed to assess the impact of an ED phlebotomist, dedicated to obtaining blood specimen collection on waiting patients, on LBTC rates. METHODS: This study was conducted as a retrospective observational analysis over approximately 18 months (October 5, 2015-March 31, 2017) for patients evaluated by a triage provider with a door-to-room (DtR) time of > 20 minutes (min). LBTC rates were compared in 10-min DtR increments for when the ED phlebotomist collected the patient's specimen vs not. RESULTS: Of 71,942 patient encounters occurring during the study period, 17,349 (24.1%) met study inclusion criteria. Of these, 1842 (10.6%) had blood specimen collection performed by ED phlebotomy. The overall LBTC rate for encounters included in the analysis was 5.26% (95% confidence interval [CI], 4.94%-5.60%). Weighting the LBTC rates for each 10-min DtR interval using the fixed effects model led to an overall LBTC rate of 2.74% (95% CI, 2.09%-3.59%) for patient encounters with ED phlebotomist collection vs 5.31% (95% CI, 4.97%-5.67%) in those which did not, yielding a relative reduction of 48% (95% CI, 34%-63%). The effect of the phlebotomist on LBTC rates increased as DtR times increased. The difference in the rate of the rise of LBTC percentages, per 10-min interval, was 0.50% (95% CI, 0.19%-0.81%) higher for non-ED phlebotomist encounters vs phlebotomist encounters. CONCLUSION: ED phlebotomy demonstrated a significant reduction in ED LBTC rates. Further, as DtR times increased, the impact of ED phlebotomy became increasingly significant. Adult EDs with increased rates of LBTC patient encounters may want to consider the implementation of ED phlebotomy.