Effect of COVID-19 on the Working of a Tertiary Care Hospital.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE:  To evaluate the effect of COVID-19 on the working of a tertiary care hospital. STUDY DESIGN: Audit study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY  Services Hospital, Lahore from 1st March to 30th June 2020. METHODOLOGY:  We calculated and compared various parameters of hospital working. Two time periods were selected. The study period was defined as the time after first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Pakistan. The control period was defined as one year prior to the first case being reported, taken from 1st March 2019 to 29th February, 2020. The parameters we studied included were number of number of hospital admissions, emergency patients, OPD patients, major surgeries, total surgeries, radiological investigations done, laboratory investigations done, births and mortalities. All parameters were calculated by taking monthly average during each time period and then compared. RESULTS:   A decrease in almost all parameters was seen when the cases of the two time periods were compared. There was a decrease in the average hospital admission by 51%, while the patients seen in OPD fell by almost 60%. A slight decrease of 25% was seen in the cases presenting to the emergency. The most marked decrease was in the elective surgeries, which was 66% closely followed by average monthly mortality which decreased by 64%. Average monthly minor surgeries and births were decreased by 33% and 35%, respectively. CONCLUSION:  There had been a decrease in the number of patients presenting to the hospital across the board with the most marked increase being in elective surgeries. Key Words COVID-19, Hospital working, Patient load, Elective surgery.