Introduction
In this study, we aimed to analyse the changes that occurred after the COVID‐19 pandemic using the data of EMS of Ankara province.
Materials and methods
EMS data for the same time interval (March 11‐April 24) in the last 3 years (2018, 2019 and 2020) were compared.
Results
While the number of calls increased by 90.9% during the pandemic period (from 2019 to 2020), the number of cases increased by 9.8%. Of all cases transported to hospital, 15.2% were suspected of and 2.9% were diagnosed with COVID‐19. In the pandemic period, case frequency decreased in the 0‐6 age group (−4.1%) and 7‐18 age group (‐39.9%) while the number of patients in the 19‐65 age group (12.9%) and 65+ age group (21.5%) increased. There was a statistically significant difference between pre‐pandemic and pandemic period in terms of rural area case frequency. During the pandemic period, case frequency of angina pectoris (−35.2%), myocardial infarction (−45%), acute abdomen (−23.8%) and cerebrovascular diseases (−2.9%) decreased contrary to pre‐pandemic period (2019). During the same period, symptoms of fever (+14.1%) and cough (+956.3%) increased. There was a statistically significant difference between pre‐pandemic and pandemic period in terms of forensic case frequency (
P
< .05). In addition, there was a statistically significant difference between these periods in terms of the frequency of patients who died at the scene.
Conclusion
Although the use of ambulances has increased in the pandemic process, the use of EMS for time‐sensitive diseases has decreased.
Objectives
The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) outbreak began in China. The characteristic of the disease is development of pneumonia. We aimed to investigate the accuracy of bedside lung ultrasound (BLUS) for diagnosing Covid-19 pneumonia, and its effectiveness for the correct triage of patients with suspected Covid-19 in the emergency department (ED).
Methods
This study was a prospective, cross-sectional cohort study. During their shifts, 3 accredited and certificated emergency physicians performed BLUS using BLUE protocol at the triage area of the ED on patients with suspected Covid-19. All of the patients underwent chest computed tomography. The BLUS findings were statistically compared with formal radiology reports of computed tomographies as the criterion standard for the diagnosis of Covid-19 pneumonia. Kolmogorov-Smirnov analysis, Shapiro-Wilk test, and Q-Q plots were performed with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for statistical analysis.
Results
A total of 72 patients were included in the study. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and overall accuracy of BLUS were 96.9% (95% CI, 84.2%–99.9%), 92.3% (95% CI, 79.1%–98.3%), 84.3% (95% CI, 64.5%–94.1%), 98.6% (95% CI, 91.1%–99.8%), and 93.7% (95% CI, 85.3%–98.0%), respectively. The positive and negative predictive values were 84.3% (95% CI, 64.5%–94.1%) and 98.6% (95% CI, 91.1%–99.8%), respectively. The area under curve was found to be 0.946 (95% CI, 0.866–0.986; P < 0.0001).
Conclusions
Bedside lung ultrasound can be used to detect the presence of pulmonary involvement in suspected cases of Covid-19 for the effective triage of patients in the ED.
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