Abstract
Aim/Background: The present study aimed to determine the
duration of hospital admission of the panic diagnosed patients, examine
the factors that may influence hospital admission time, and identify the
impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on hospital admission time.
Materials and methods: In this study, the panic diagnosed
patients between January 2018 and January 2021 were determined. These
patients’ demographic, clinical, and panic diagnosis form data were
documented. The duration of hospital admission of patients during and
pre-COVID-19 pandemic period was determined.
Results: There were 65 panic diagnosed cases, of which one
patient had leukocytoclastic vasculitis, 10 patients had uterine
contents without villi or trophoblasts, and 54 patients had unexpected
malignancy. The mean time of
admission to the hospital of verbally informed and not verbally informed
cases were five days and 156 days, respectively in the pre-COVID group.
All cases in the COVID pandemic group were verbally informed about panic
diagnosis by phone call. The mean time (day) of admission to the
hospital was 18.3 days (1-40). Admission times were on mean about 13.3
days longer in verbally informed cases in the COVID pandemic group
compared to verbally informed cases in the pre-COVID group.
Conclusion: We determined a dramatic decrease in the number of
panic diagnosed cases during the COVID pandemic and patients who are
verbally informed admitted to the hospital in a shorter time.
Integrations of hospital panic diagnosis notification systems to health
application programs and primary responsible family physician’s systems
may be useful for preventing unwanted delays.
Keywords: Panic diagnosis,
unexpected diagnosis, significant diagnosis, critical value