Pattern of Visits in a Metropolitan Emergency Department in Lombardia (Italy): January 2019-December 2020.

During the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a general decrease in the presentations to emergency departments (ED) was reported. However, we suspect that there was a lower number but an unchanged pattern of ED visits for urgent conditions in 2020 compared to 2019. This retrospective study assessed the change in the number of presentations in the ED of a tertiary level university hospital in Milano (Lombardia, Italy). Compared to 2019, a significant drop in ED presentations occurred (-46.4%), and we recorded a -15.7% difference in the proportion of patients admitted with white codes. The pattern of hourly presentations to the ED was unchanged, with overcrowding during the working daytime. COVID-19 changed ED flows, likely causing an overall reduction in the number of deferrable conditions. However, the pattern associated with urgent conditions did not change abruptly in 2020.

[A new Emergency Department case management model for nonurgent patients]. / Un nuovo modello di gestione dei pazienti "non urgenti" in Pronto Soccorso.

Emergency Department visits for nonurgent conditions are very widespread and new strategies to provide timely and appropriate medical care for these patients are required. The "Fondazione IRCCS Ca 'Grande" Hospital in Milan, in collaboration with the local health authorities have evaluated a new case management model in which patients classed as nonurgent at triage are diverted to a "continuity of care" outpatient office within the emergency department. This model, based on the integration of hospital and community-based primary healthcare, was effective and led to a significant reduction in waiting times in the ED and to a more appropriate use of resources.