Scand J Trauma Resus
-
Scand J Trauma Resus · Dec 2020
Multicenter StudyThe effect of national lockdown due to COVID-19 on emergency department visits.
COVID-19 outbreak lead to nationwide lockdown in Finland on the March 16th, 2020. Previous data regarding to the patient load in the emergency departments during pandemics is scarce. Our aim is to describe the effect of national lockdown and social distancing on the number and reasons for emergency department (ED) visits and inpatient admissions in three large volume hospitals prior to and after the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic in Finland. ⋯ Changes in ED visits and inpatient admissions prior to and during the early phase of the COVID-19 outbreak were unpredictable, and our results may help hospitals and especially ED's focus their resources better. Surprisingly, there was a major decrease in the rate of ED visits due to back or limb pain and not so surprisingly in infectious diseases. Rates of acute myocardial infarctions and cerebral strokes remained stable. In summary, stabile resources for the treatment of patients with severe diseases will be needed in hospitals and ED's.
-
Scand J Trauma Resus · Dec 2020
Development of machine learning models to predict RT-PCR results for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in patients with influenza-like symptoms using only basic clinical data.
Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2) diagnosis currently requires quite a long time span. A quicker and more efficient diagnostic tool in emergency departments could improve management during this global crisis. Our main goal was assessing the accuracy of artificial intelligence in predicting the results of RT-PCR for SARS-COV-2, using basic information at hand in all emergency departments. ⋯ Our study suggests that properly trained artificial intelligence algorithms may be able to predict correct results in RT-PCR for SARS-COV-2, using basic clinical data. If confirmed, on a larger-scale study, this approach could have important clinical and organizational implications.