6533b7dafe1ef96bd126d944

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Paediatric Emergencies During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Ana Barrés FernándezDiannet Quintero GarcíaSergio Iniesta GonzálezJesús Ferrer FerrerLucia Monfort BelenguerÁNgela Moreno PalominoIgnacio Fernández GonzálezMaría Isabel Lázaro CarreñoSilvia Carbonell SahuquilloFrancisco José Sebastián Cuevas

subject

2019-20 coronavirus outbreakpaediatricIsolation (health care)Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)Primary carePediatricslockdown03 medical and health sciences0302 clinical medicine030225 pediatricsPandemicMedicineOriginal Research Article030212 general & internal medicineSports activityGovernmentAlarm statebusiness.industrylcsh:RJ1-570COVID-19lcsh:Pediatricsmedicine.diseaseemergenciesPediatrics Perinatology and Child HealthMedical emergencybusiness

description

The state of alarm decreed by the Spanish Government, due to the Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic, has demanded the lockdown of children and has conditioned a new organization of the Emergency Departments (ED). A pre-triage station and 2 independent circuits were established: suspected COVID-19 and not suspected COVID-19. The ED visits decreased 84,5% from pre-alarm with no increase in the level of urgencies. During the alarm state, 40.97% of the children were classified as suspected COVID-19. Fever and respiratory symptoms, used as discriminators, generated 2 groups of patients with different characteristics. Although the interruption of sports activities and isolation of children at home contributed to the decrease in emergencies, it was also probably conditioned by adults’ fear of contagion, who avoided going to the hospital in situations that would never have really required ED and resolved themselves in primary care or spontaneously.

https://doi.org/10.1177/2333794x21989528