Abstract
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has impacted emergency department (ED) practice, including the treatment of traumatic brain injury (TBI), which is commonly encountered in the ED. Our study aimed to evaluate TBI treatment efficiency in the ED during the COVID-19 pandemic. A retrospective observational study was conducted using the electronic medical records from three hospitals in metropolitan Taipei, Taiwan. The time from ED arrival to brain computed tomography (CT) and the time from ED arrival to surgical management were used as measures of treatment efficiency. TBI treatment efficiencies in the ED coinciding with a small-scale local COVID-19 outbreak in 2020 (P1) and large-scale community spread in 2021 (P2) were compared against the pre-pandemic efficiency recorded in 2019. The interval between ED arrival and brain CT was significantly shortened during P1 and P2 compared with the pre-pandemic interval, and no significant delay between ED arrival and surgical management was found, indicating increased treatment efficiency for TBI in the ED during the COVID-19 pandemic. Minimizing viral spread in the community and the hospital is vital to maintaining ED treatment efficiency and capacity. The ED should retain sufficient capacity to treat older patients with serious TBI during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Highlights
Introduction published maps and institutional affilDue to geographic proximity with China, hospitals in Taiwan rapidly prepared for the impending arrival of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection soon after the outbreak was first reported in Wuhan, China, in 2019 [1]
Mild head injuries were reduced during P1 and P2 compared with the pre-pandemic period (Figure 4)
The number of brain computed tomography (CT) scans performed for traumatic brain injury (TBI) decreased in P2, the rate of brain CTs rose sharply (Figure 6)
Summary
Due to geographic proximity with China, hospitals in Taiwan rapidly prepared for the impending arrival of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection soon after the outbreak was first reported in Wuhan, China, in 2019 [1]. The number of COVID-19 cases reported in European countries began to grow exponentially [2,3], the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (CDC) implemented strict border control and infection control measures to prevent virus transmission [4]. The rapid response by the CDC and the cooperation by the population resulted in outstanding performance for controlling the COVID-19 pandemic in Taiwan in 2020 [6]. In contrast to many countries that suffered from healthcare system damage due to severe community and hospital spread of the virus, the hospitals in Taiwan were able to iations
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