@article{article_1262435, title={The evaluation of the comparison between pre- and post-pandemic era regarding emergency psychiatric consultations}, journal={Ege Tıp Dergisi}, volume={62}, pages={55–60}, year={2023}, DOI={10.19161/etd.1262435}, url={https://izlik.org/JA84HM84AA}, author={Çakır Kardeş, Vildan and Telli, Gökçe}, keywords={COVID-19, acil psikiyatri konsültasyonu, pandemi}, abstract={Aim: This study aims to determine the quantitative or qualitative changes in emergency psychiatry consultations before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Materials and Methods: The socio-demographic characteristics and clinical features of 233 patients were retrospectively collected and analyzed. And their data were compared regarding their emergency psychiatry consultations before (between March 11th, 2019 and March 10th, 2020) and during (between March 11th, 2020 and March 10th, 2021) the spread of COVID-19.
Results: The patients’ consultation ratio (psychiatry consultations to total emergency room administrations) increased during the pandemic (0.03% vs 0.07%). Among these patients, the diagnosis of alcohol and substance use disorder (6.1% vs. 16.1%) (p=0.03) increased while the diagnoses of obsessive-compulsive disorder (5.2% vs. 0%) (p=0.01) and bipolar disorder (21.1% vs. 20.5%) (p=0.02) decreased. Hostility among patients during consultation increased (19.1% vs. 30.8%) (p=0.04). Suicidal thoughts decreased (25.2% vs. 14.5%) (p=0.04). Furthermore, voluntary inpatient treatment (20.9%-34.2%) (p=0.02) increased, transfer to another clinic (25.2% vs. 12%) (p=0.01) and outpatient treatment (46.1% vs. 42.7%) (p=0.01) decreased. An increase in oral treatments (10.4% vs. 26.5%) (p=0.02) and a decrease in parenteral treatments (71.3% vs. 54.7%) (p=0.01) were reported.
Conclusion: Our findings confirmed that after COVID-19 spread, clinical features, diagnosis, and treatment modality have changed among emergency psychiatric consultations. Evaluating these implications may be the first step in improving the healthcare system and reshaping psychiatric approaches according to the new requirements of the new pandemics.}, number={1}