Table 2.
Demographic and clinical characteristics of patients visiting CBNUH isolation ED area during pre-, implementation, and post-intervention periods.
| Total |
Pre-Intervention (Feb.27–Mar.11, 2020) |
Implementation (Mar.12–17, 2020) |
Post-Intervention (Mar.18–31, 2020) |
p-value |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N (%) | N (%) | N (%) | N (%) | .. | |
| Total number of patients | 603 (100) | 243 (40.3) | 115 (19.1) | 245 (40.6) | .. |
| Age, median (IQR), years | 62 (31–77) | 63 (35–77) | 62 (26–77) | 59 (27–77) | 0.48 |
| Gender | .. | .. | .. | .. | 0.06 |
| Female | 292 (48.4) | 115 (47.3) | 67 (58.3) | 110 (44.9) | .. |
| Day of ED visit | .. | .. | .. | .. | 0.39 |
| Weekend | 198 (32.8) | 77 (31.7) | 44 (38.3) | 77 (31.4) | .. |
| Time of ED visit | .. | .. | .. | .. | 0.6 |
| 00–06 | 80 (13.3) | 32 (13.2) | 14 (12.2) | 34 (13.9) | .. |
| 06–12 | 167 (27.7) | 65 (26.7) | 30 (26.1) | 72 (29.4) | .. |
| 12–18 | 204 (33.8) | 85 (35.0) | 34 (29.6) | 85 (34.7) | .. |
| 18–00 | 152 (25.2) | 61 (25.1) | 37 (32.2) | 54 (22.0) | .. |
| Transfer from other hospital | 60 (10.0) | 34 (14.0) | 8 (7.0) | 18 (7.3) | 0.02 |
| Transfer to other hospital | 38 (6.3) | 23 (9.5) | 7 (6.1) | 8 (3.3) | 0.02 |
| EMS use | 210 (34.8) | 87 (35.8) | 46 (40.0) | 77 (31.4) | 0.26 |
| Disease category | .. | .. | .. | .. | 0.44 |
| ED visit due to Injury | 27 (4.5) | 12 (4.9) | 7 (6.1) | 8 (3.3) | .. |
| Level of acuity (KTAS) | .. | .. | .. | .. | <0.01 |
| KTAS 1–3 (Severe) | 501 (83.1) | 203 (83.5) | 78 (67.8) | 220 (89.8) | .. |
| KTAS 4–5 (Non-severe) | 102 (16.9) | 40 (16.5) | 37 (32.2) | 25 (10.2) | .. |
| Abnormal mental statusa | 77 (12.8) | 25 (10.3) | 16 (13.9) | 36 (14.7) | 0.32 |
| Abnormal vital signs | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |
| Systolic blood pressure <90 mmHg | 128 (21.2) | 46 (18.9) | 27 (23.5) | 55 (22.4) | 0.51 |
| Respiratory rate ≥30 or <10/min | 118 (19.6) | 36 (14.8) | 14 (12.2) | 68 (27.8) | <0.01 |
| Body temperature ≥37.5 °C | 337 (55.9) | 125 (51.4) | 70 (60.9) | 142 (58.0) | 0.17 |
| ED disposition | .. | .. | .. | .. | 0.89 |
| Discharge | 294 (48.8) | 112 (46.1) | 66 (57.4) | 116 (47.3) | .. |
| Transfer to other hospital | 14 (2.3) | 5 (2.1) | 4 (3.5) | 5 (2.0) | .. |
| Admission | 286 (47.4) | 123 (50.6) | 43 (37.4) | 120 (49.0) | .. |
| Death | 7 (1.2) | 3 (1.2) | 2 (1.7) | 2 (0.8) | .. |
| Others | 2 (0.3) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 2 (0.8) | .. |
| Admission to ICU | 40 (6.6) | 15 (6.2) | 10 (8.7) | 15 (6.1) | 0.61 |
| Overall mortality | 24 (4.0) | 9 (3.7) | 7 (6.1) | 8 (3.3) | 0.42 |
| ED length of stay, median (IQR), hours | 5.7 (3.1–9.4) | 6.1 (3.0–10.1) | 6.2 (3.4–10.4) | 5.4 (3.0–8.1) | 0.09 |
| COVID-19 testing | 538 (89.2) | 204 (84.0) | 108 (93.9) | 226 (92.2) | <0.01 |
| CT scanning | .. | .. | .. | .. | <0.01 |
| No | 527 (87.4) | 233 (95.9) | 103 (89.6) | 191 (78.0) | .. |
| Yes- with use of isolation stretcher | 63 (10.4) | 0 (0.0) | 10 (8.7) | 53 (21.6) | .. |
| Yes - without use of isolation stretcher | 13 (2.2) | 10 (4.1) | 2 (1.7) | 1 (0.4) | .. |
Abbreviations: CBNUH = Chungbuk National University Hospital; ED = emergency department; Feb = February; Mar = March; IQR = interquartile range; KTAS=Korean Triage and Acuity Scales; COVID-19 = coronavirus disease 2019; ICU = intensive care unit; CT = computed tomography.
a
Abnormal mental status includes verbal response, painful stimulus, and unresponsive.