Comparison of Ambulance Patients and Outpatients Presented to the Pandemia Area of a University Hospital Emergency Department

Objective: In this study, we compared the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19)+/suspected patients who presented to the pandemia area (outpatient enterance/ambulance enterance) of our emergency department (ED) and to determine whether the ambulance system is used appropriately or not during this pandemia process.
Material and Methods: Patients were divided into two groups as outpatients and ambulance patients. Demographic data, sampling ratio of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) swab, PCR positivity, thorax computed tomography (CT), CT positivity, hospitalization ratio and hospitalization day, length of stay in the ED, and the outcome of the groups were compared.
Results: The mean age of ambulance patients was 53.8±20.2 (min: 18, max: 93), and the ambulance patients were 41.4±16.04 (min: 18, max: 96) and this value was significantly higher in ambulance patients. Length of stay in the ED of the ambulance patients was 6.1 h and this value was 2.9 h for the other group. Hospitalization length of discharged patients from the intensive care unit (ICU) was 20.6 days for ambulance patients and 16.9 days for outpatients. Three of the outpatients and 22 of the ambulance patients died during hospitalization and 18 of these were males.
Conclusion: The mean age, CT positivity, and PCR test positivity were significantly higher in ambulance patients. Similarly, ambulance patients’ length of stay in the ED was higher who were discharged from the ED. ICU hospitalization, hospitalization length, and mortality ratio were higher in ambulance patients. Considering these results, it is important to develop appropriate strategies for ambulance and outpatients, to prevent already crowded EDs squeezing under the COVID-19 burden.

Keywords: COVID-19, ambulance, emergency department, outpatients, intensive care unit