Home oxygen therapy from the emergency department for COVID-19 an observational study.
Am J Emerg Med
; 68: 47-51, 2023 06.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-36933333
ABSTRACT
STUDY OBJECTIVE:
During the COVID-19 pandemic, prescribing supplemental oxygen was a common reason for hospitalization of patients. We evaluated outcomes of COVID-19 patients discharged from the Emergency Department (ED) with home oxygen as part of a program to decrease hospital admissions.METHODS:
We retrospectively observed COVID-19 patients with an ED visit resulting in direct discharge or observation from April 2020 to January 2022 at 14 hospitals in a single healthcare system. The cohort included those discharged with new oxygen supplementation, a pulse oximeter, and return instructions. Our primary outcome was subsequent hospitalization or death outside the hospital within 30 days of ED or observation discharge.RESULTS:
Among 28,960 patients visiting the ED for COVID-19, providers admitted 11,508 (39.7%) to the hospital, placed 907 (3.1%) in observation status, and discharged 16,545 (57.1%) to home. A total of 614 COVID-19 patients (535 discharge to home and 97 observation unit) went home on new oxygen therapy. We observed the primary outcome in 151 (24.6%, CI 21.3-28.1%) patients. There were 148 (24.1%) patients subsequently hospitalized and 3 (0.5%) patients who died outside the hospital. The subsequent hospitalized mortality rate was 29.7% with 44 of the 148 patients admitted to the hospital dying. Mortality all cause at 30 days in the entire cohort was 7.7%.CONCLUSIONS:
Most patients discharged to home with new oxygen for COVID-19 safely avoid later hospitalization and few patients die within 30 days. This suggests the feasibility of the approach and offers support for ongoing research and implementation efforts.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
COVID-19
Type of study:
Observational_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
Am J Emerg Med
Year:
2023
Document type:
Article