Austrian study shows that delays in accessing acute paediatric health care outweighed the risks of COVID‐19

Schaffert, Matthias; Zimmermann, Franz; Bauer, Leopold; Kastner, Simon; Schwarz, Astrid; Strenger, Volker; Metzger, Roman; Thun‐Hohenstein, Leonhard; Sperl, Wolfgang; Weghuber, Daniel; Wortmann, Saskia B.

doi:10.1111/apa.15507

Cited by 14 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…This is the only way to ensure that important resources in hospitals are not overburdened. Experts’ concerns that a significant number of patients may die or suffer harm due to delayed access to usual medical care [ 21 , 22 ] are also important and are reflected in our survey. As noted above, the number of patients visiting primary care practices decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVI-Prim survey: Challenges for Austrian and German general practitioners during initial phase of COVID-19

et al. 2021

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Background Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) represents a significant challenge to health care systems around the world. A well-functioning primary care system is crucial in epidemic situations as it plays an important role in the development of a system-wide response. Methods 2,187 Austrian and German GPs answered an internet survey on preparedness, testing, staff protection, perception of risk, self-confidence, a decrease in the number of patient contacts, and efforts to control the spread of the virus in the practice during the early phase of the COVID-pandemic (3rd to 30th April). Results The completion rate of the questionnaire was high (90.9%). GPs gave low ratings to their preparedness for a pandemic, testing of suspected cases and efforts to protect staff. The provision of information to GPs and the perception of risk were rated as moderate. On the other hand, the participants rated their self-confidence, a decrease in patient contacts and their efforts to control the spread of the disease highly. Conclusion Primary care is an important resource for dealing with a pandemic like COVID-19. The workforce is confident and willing to take an active role, but needs to be provided with the appropriate surrounding conditions. This will require that certain conditions are met. Registration Trial registration at the German Clinical Trials Register: DRKS00021231.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVI-Prim survey: Challenges for Austrian and German general practitioners during initial phase of COVID-19

et al. 2021

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“…Schools and day care facilities re-opened in May until July when holidays started. Access to health care facilities was restricted to acute illnesses and all health care institutions were obliged to identify patients with proven or suspected SARS-CoV-2 infections by screening systems (5)(6)(7). In our children's university hospital, serving a catchment area of about 150,000 children and adolescents, a screening questionnaire based on national definitions of suspected SARS-CoV-2 infections was implemented (5).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Low Rate of SARS-CoV-2 Infections in Symptomatic Patients Attending a Pediatric Emergency Department

et al. 2021

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Children and adolescents seem to be at lower risk of developing clinical symptoms of COVID-19. We analyzed the rate of SARS-CoV-2 infections among 3,605 symptomatic children and adolescents at 4,402 outpatient visits presenting to a pediatric emergency department. In a total of 1,105 (32.6%) episodes, the patients fulfilled clinical case definitions for SARS-CoV-2 infection and were tested by nucleic acid testing. A SARS-CoV-2 infection was diagnosed in 10/1,100 episodes (0.3% of analyzed episodes, 0.91% of validly tested patients). Symptoms at presentation did not differ between patients with and without SARS-CoV-2 infection, apart from the frequency of measured temperature ≥37.5°C at presentation. Three percent of analyzed children reported disturbances of olfactory or gustatory senses, but none of them was infected with SARS-CoV-2. The rate of SARS-CoV-2 infections among symptomatic children and adolescents was low and SARS-CoV-2 infections could not reliably be differentiated from other infections without nucleic acid testing.

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“…In particular, health care is affected on many levels by the pandemic itself but also by the measures such as social distancing and quarantine for large numbers of people. There is concern that attendance to health care programs, urgent hospital admissions as well as necessary surgical or medical procedures are delayed, and this may affect young people in particular [ 2 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 pandemic and families' utilization of well-child clinics and pediatric practices attendance in Germany

et al. 2021

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Objective The COVID-19 pandemic and the measures implemented to stop the pandemic had a broad impact on our daily lives. Besides work and social life, health care is affected on many levels. In particular, there is concern that attendance in health care programs will drop or hospital admissions will be delayed due to COVID-19-related anxieties, especially in children. Therefore, we compared the number of weekly visits to 78 German pediatric institutions between 2019 and 2020. Results We found no significant differences during the first 10 weeks of the year. However, and importantly, from April, the weekly number of visits was more than 35% lower in 2020 than in 2019 (p = 0.005). In conclusion, the COVID-19 pandemic seems to relate to families´ utilization of outpatient well-child clinics and pediatric practice attendance in Germany.

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Austrian study shows that delays in accessing acute paediatric health care outweighed the risks of COVID‐19

Cited by 14 publications

References 4 publications

COVI-Prim survey: Challenges for Austrian and German general practitioners during initial phase of COVID-19

COVI-Prim survey: Challenges for Austrian and German general practitioners during initial phase of COVID-19

Low Rate of SARS-CoV-2 Infections in Symptomatic Patients Attending a Pediatric Emergency Department

COVID-19 pandemic and families' utilization of well-child clinics and pediatric practices attendance in Germany

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