Cho Soo Im, Ko Jung In, Kim Yeonjae, Yeo Woonhyung, Lee Kangeui, Cho Wonjin, Moon Sungwoo, Park Taejin
Department of Emergency Medicine, National Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.
Division of Infectious Diseases, National Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.
Infect Chemother. 2021 Mar;53(1):84-95. doi: 10.3947/ic.2020.0143.
According to the recent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic experience, many emergency departments experience difficulties in responding to emerging infectious diseases and this has led to a public health crisis. Our emergency department (ED) is designed to respond to mass outbreaks of infection. Three major preparations were taken to respond to infectious disease; first, to improve the emergency department facilities; second, to created programs to respond to each phase of an epidemic of COVID-19; lastly, to implemented education and training to promote the safety of medical staff. We would like to share the actual responses and statistics of patients visiting emergency department during COVID-19 periods of pandemic.
This research was conducted through a retrospective chart analysis provided by a public medical center with 502 beds since the first report of a COVID-19 confirmed case on January 19, 2020 to June 15, 2020 in Seoul, the capital of Korea. Our emergency department was designed based on Korean Regional Emergency Center Facility Standards, and modified throughout each phases of COVID-19 outbreak. Patients suspected to be infectious are screened in the triage, separating them from general patients, and then receive isolation treatment in isolated wards.
A total of 4,352 patients visited the ED. 3,202 screenings were conducted with 5 confirmed cases. Another 1,150 patients were treated with general emergent symptoms. There were no problems such as closure of the emergency department or isolation of medical staff while managing COVID-19 confirmed patients.
Improving emergency department facilities, create an operational program to respond to each phase of COVID-19 outbreak and implement educational programs enabled large number of screening tests and hospitalization for COVID-19 suspected patients while maintaining general medical services. Research in emergency department designs and operational programs should increase to combine research data with better ideas to respond not only during regular periods but also during periods of pandemic.
根据近期2019冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行的经验，许多急诊科在应对新发传染病时遇到困难，这引发了一场公共卫生危机。我们的急诊科旨在应对大规模感染暴发。为应对传染病采取了三项主要准备措施；第一，改善急诊科设施；第二，制定应对COVID-19疫情各阶段的方案；最后，开展教育和培训以促进医务人员的安全。我们希望分享COVID-19大流行期间急诊科接待患者的实际应对情况和统计数据。
本研究通过韩国首都首尔一家拥有502张床位的公立医疗中心提供的回顾性病历分析进行，研究时间为2020年1月19日首例COVID-19确诊病例报告至2020年6月15日。我们的急诊科是根据韩国地区急诊中心设施标准设计的，并在COVID-19疫情的各个阶段进行了修改。疑似感染患者在分诊时接受筛查，与普通患者分开，然后在隔离病房接受隔离治疗。
共有4352名患者到急诊科就诊。进行了3202次筛查，其中5例确诊。另外1150名患者接受了一般急诊症状治疗。在管理COVID-19确诊患者期间，没有出现急诊科关闭或医务人员隔离等问题。
改善急诊科设施、制定应对COVID-19疫情各阶段的运营方案以及实施教育方案，能够在维持一般医疗服务的同时，对大量COVID-19疑似患者进行筛查检测和住院治疗。应加强对急诊科设计和运营方案的研究，将研究数据与更好的应对思路相结合，不仅要在常规时期，还要在大流行时期做好应对准备。
