Chaturvedi Bhumi, Raj Preeti, Singh Pratima, Bareth Hemant, Sharma Anupama, Singh Mahaveer, Nathiya Deepak, Tomar Balvir Singh
Department of Pharmacy Practice, Nims Institute of Pharmacy, Nims University Rajasthan, Jaipur, India.
School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom.
Front Public Health. 2025 May 16;13:1512735. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1512735. eCollection 2025.
The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic created an unprecedented global health crisis, resulting in major disruptions to healthcare systems worldwide. The pandemic has also significantly reshaped healthcare utilization patterns. This study aimed to assess healthcare utilization during the three waves of COVID-19.
We conducted a retrospective study involving 1,308 patients admitted to the COVID-19 care facility at the National Institute of Medical Sciences and Research in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. The study analyzed healthcare utilization patterns during the first, second, and third waves of COVID-19, focusing on patient hospitalization duration across the three waves.
The hospitalization rate increased during the second wave compared to the first wave and subsequently declined in the third wave. Hospitalization durations varied significantly across the waves. In all three waves, 30% of the population was hospitalized for 0-5 days, 25.9% for 9-13 days, 24.08% for 6-8 days, and 19.5% of patients were hospitalized for more than 14 days. A -value of 0.032 indicated a statistically significant difference in length of hospital stay (LHS) across the three waves of COVID-19. A threshold p-value of 0.05 was used to assess healthcare utilization and to estimate future healthcare requirements for similar pandemic scenarios.
Our findings highlight the dynamic nature of healthcare demands during pandemic waves and underscore the need for flexible healthcare systems capable of adapting to fluctuating patient loads. Proactive planning and resource allocation are crucial to managing future pandemics effectively.
新冠疫情的出现造成了前所未有的全球健康危机，给全球医疗系统带来了重大干扰。疫情还显著重塑了医疗服务利用模式。本研究旨在评估新冠疫情三波期间的医疗服务利用情况。
我们进行了一项回顾性研究，涉及印度拉贾斯坦邦斋浦尔国家医学科学与研究所在收治的1308例新冠患者。该研究分析了新冠疫情第一波、第二波和第三波期间的医疗服务利用模式，重点关注三波疫情期间患者的住院时长。
与第一波相比，第二波期间的住院率有所上升，随后在第三波中下降。各波次的住院时长差异显著。在所有三波疫情中，30%的人群住院0至5天，25.9%住院9至13天，24.08%住院6至8天，19.5%的患者住院超过14天。p值为0.032表明新冠疫情三波期间的住院时长存在统计学显著差异。采用0.05的阈值p值来评估医疗服务利用情况，并估计类似疫情情况下未来的医疗需求。
我们的研究结果凸显了疫情期间医疗需求的动态性质，并强调了需要有能够适应波动患者负荷的灵活医疗系统。积极的规划和资源分配对于有效应对未来疫情至关重要。
