Consultations to Surgical Departments in Pediatric Emergency Department in Covid-19 Pandemic

Aim: The aim of the study was to evaluate the clinical features and consultation process of the patients who
were consulted from the pediatric emergency department to the surgical departments during the pandemic
period, and to compare the findings with the data before the pa ndemic.
Patients and Methods: The research was conducted between 11.03.2020-11.03.2021 in the pediatric
emergency department of our hospital. The enrolled patients at 0-18 years of age were retrospectively
evaluated in terms of gender, age, diagnosis, consultation result, consultation response time. Our study was
compared with the prepandemic data between 01.01.2019 and 31.12 .2019.
Results: Of the patients; 42,4% were female and 57,6% were male. The mean age was 6,9±4,9 years. It
was determined that 27,3% of our patients were consulted to one of the surgical clinics with the diagnosis of
foreign body, 22,2% acute abdomen, 10.6% foreign body aspiration. It was found that 38,5% of the patients
were consulted to the pediatric surgery department, 33,9% to the otolaryngology department and 11,4% to the
thoracic surgery department. The mean consultation response time was 72,2±48,8 minutes. The distribution
of diagnoses, consultation response time, consulted surgical departments, consultation results by age groups,
and distribution of the consultation response times by surgical departments during the pandemic were found
to be statistically significant compared to the pre-pandemic pe riod (p<0,05).
Conclusion: In our study, it was found that the number of patients admitted to the pediatric emergency
department decreased during the pandemic period, the number of hospitalizations increased, the diagnoses
associated with trauma and close physical contact decreased, and the diagnosis of epididymorchitis increased.
In addition consultation response times were observed to be con siderably longer.