A The Effect of Covid 19 Pandemic on Internal Medicine Outpatient Clinic Applications and Patient Profile

Year 2022, Volume: 2 Issue: 1, 14 - 20, 01.07.2022

Elif Börekçi , Cevval Ulman

Abstract

Aim: Due to the partial curfews and the panic experienced by the people, the pandemic periods
can directly affect the patients' admission to the hospital for their health problems. Follow-up and
treatment of chronic diseases may be delayed. In this study, it will be examined how the Covid-19
pandemic affects the admissions to the Internal Medicine outpatient clinic and the patient profile.
Material and Method: Hospital database records of patients who applied to the Internal Medicine
outpatient clinic between March 2020-March 2021 (pandemic period) and March 2019-March 2020 (prepandemic period) were reviewed. The number of patients, their age, gender, and reasons for admission
were examined. Results: 15.072 patients in the pre-pandemic period and 8.582 patients in the pandemic
period were admitted to the Internal Medicine outpatient clinic. The mean age of the patients before the
pandemic was 44.61±17.42, 70.4% were women, and 15.7% were over 65 years old. During the pandemic
period, the mean age was 43.41±16.95, 64.8% were women, and 13.9% were over 65 years old. While
15.6% of all applicants were admitted with diabetes mellitus in the pre-pandemic period, 21.8% during
the pandemic. Those who applied due to hypertension were 5.1% in the pre-pandemic period and 3.1%
in the pandemic. Conclusion: During the pandemic, the blood pressure and sugar regulations of the
patients deteriorate due to the effect of quarantine and the stress experienced. Especially the elderly and
female population are adversely affected in the follow-up of their chronic diseases. Knowing the effects
of pandemics on chronic diseases is important in terms of improvements that can be made in our health
system during pandemic periods.

Covid 19 Pandemisinin İç hastalıkları Poliklinik Başvurularına ve Başvuran Hasta Profiline Etkisi

Abstract

Amaç: Pandemi dönemleri, yapılan kısmi sokağa çıkma yasakları ve halkın yaşadığı panik
sebebiyle hastaların sağlık problemlerine yönelik hastaneye başvurularını doğrudan etkileyebilmektedir.
Kronik hastalıkların takip ve tedavisi ertelenebilmektedir. Bu çalışma ile Covid-19 pandemisinin iç
hastalıkları polkliniğine başvuruları ve hasta profilini nasıl etkilediği incelenecektir. Gereç Yöntem:
Mart 2020-Mart 2021 (pandemi dönemi) ve Mart 2019-Mart 2020 (pandemi öncesi dönem) tarihlerinde
iç hastalıkları polikliniğine başvuran hastaların hastane veri tabanı kayıtları geriye dönük olarak
taranmıştır. Her iki dönemde başvuran hasta sayıları, hastaların yaşları, cinsiyetleri ve polikliniğe başvuru
sebepleri incelenmiştir. Bulgular: İç hastalıkları polikliniğine pandemi öncesi son 1 yıllık süreçte 15.072,
son 1 yıllık pandemik süreçte ise toplam 8.582 hasta başvurusu olmuştur. Pandemi öncesi dönemde
başvuranların yaş ortalaması 44,61±17,42, %70,4’ ü kadın, %15,7’si 65 yaş üstüdür. Pandemi döneminde
ise başvuranların yaş ortalaması 43,41±16,95, %64,8’i kadın, %13,9’u 65 yaş üstü saptanmıştır. Pandemi
öncesi dönemde diyabetes mellitus nedeni ile başvuran hastalar tüm başvuranların %15,6’sı iken,
pandemi döneminde %21,8’idir. Hipertansiyon nedeniyle başvuranlar ise pandemi öncesi dönemde %5,1
iken, pandemi döneminde %3,1 oranındadır. Sonuç: Salgın döneminde karantinanın ve yaşanan stresin
etkisiyle hastaların kan şekeri ve kan basıncı regülasyonları bozulmaktadır. Özellikle yaşlı ve kadın nüfus
kronik hastalıklarının takibinde olumsuz etkilenmektedir. Pandemilerin kronik hastalıklar üzerindeki
etkilerinin bilinmesi pandemi dönemlerinde sağlık sistemimizde yapılacak iyileştirmeler açısından
önemlidir.

Keywords

Covid 19, Hasta, Pandemi, İç Hastalıkları Polikliniği.

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