Background
The covid pandemic has severely impacted NHS in Poland. This study aimed to analyze how the number and category of deaths, hospitalizations, and length of stay in ER changed over the last 3 years.
Methodology
This is a retrospective observational study, in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Data were collected from the electronic system of the hospital in Bochnia. The patients’ medical histories and the universal ICD-10 codes determined the primary death cause.
Results
The results were as follows:
2019 2020 2021 hospitalizations 20956 18290 19538 deaths 39 90 94 whereas COVID 0 16 7 long stays (>48 h) 3 141 18 Thus, there was a 265% increase in relative mortality in 2020 vs. 259% in 2021 compared to 2019. In 2020 there was a 4700% increase in long stays compared to 2019.
Death causes were classified as below:
cause of death 2019 2020 2021 Cardiac 4 13 23 Neoplasms 10 14 26 Trauma 1 3 4 infectious diseases (incl. COVID) 6 35 15 Hypothermia 0 2 3 Surgical 3 3 3 other (lung, kidney, neurological) 5 6 7 Unknown 10 14 13 Conclusion
COVID-19 pandemic considerably influenced the length of stay and subsequent mortality in the ER. The most likely reason was a lack of extra medical staff in other departments. The ratio of health workers to the population in Poland is still one of the lowest in the EU, with a long average working time, not leaving much space for extra hours in case of a pandemic.
Also, there was a horrifying increase in cases of sepsis. Most of them were prescribed antibiotics over the phone, so a referral to ER was often delayed.
We seem to have seen some of the social consequences of social distancing – hypothermias and suicide among lonely people.

Comparison of ER admissions, mortality, and length of stay in a district emergency department during COVID pandemic 2019-2021.

Implementation of the Guidelines - How do we put the new ERC Guidelines into practice?

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