COVID-19 Pandemic Restrictions and Pediatric Emergency Department Attendance for Accidents.

IF 1.8 4区医学 Q2 HEALTH POLICY & SERVICES

Journal of Pediatric Health Care Pub Date : 2025-09-24 DOI:10.1016/j.pedhc.2025.08.010

Alice Boria, Ilaria Acquaviva, Alessio Correani, Chiara Monachesi, Simona Gatti, Elisabetta Fabiani, Maria Elena Lionetti

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Introduction: From January 2020 to March 2022, Italy implemented stringent public health measures during the COVID-19 state of emergency (EM). This study evaluated their impact on pediatric emergency department (PED) attendances for accidents.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 17,852 accident-related visits among patients aged ≤15 years at a regional referral PED between February 2018 and January 2024, comparing prepandemic (PRE-PAN), pandemic emergency (EM-PAN), and postemergency (PostEM-PAN) phases.

Results: Of 107,187 total PED visits, 16.7% were related to accidents. During EM-PAN, accident-related attendances rose to 24.2%, despite a 42.8% decrease in overall visits, and admission abandonment rates declined. In PostEM-PAN, total attendances remained 9.6% lower than PRE-PAN levels, accident-related visits dropped to 8.4%, and the proportion of critical triage codes increased. Visits declined in children aged 0-5 years and rose among adolescents.

Conclusions: Emergency measures during the pandemic significantly affected PED utilization, altering access patterns, clinical severity, and age distribution. While not currently part of the Italian healthcare system, nurse practitioners may be considered in future planning to support changes in pediatric emergency care, especially in contexts of public health strain.

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COVID-19大流行限制和儿科急诊室的事故出勤率。

2020年1月至2022年3月，意大利在COVID-19紧急状态期间实施了严格的公共卫生措施。本研究评估其对儿科急诊科（PED）意外出勤率的影响。方法：回顾性分析2018年2月至2024年1月期间，在区域转诊PED中年龄≤15岁的17,852例与事故相关的就诊，比较大流行前（PRE-PAN）、大流行紧急（EM-PAN）和紧急后（PostEM-PAN）阶段。结果：在107187例PED就诊中，16.7%与意外事故有关。在EM-PAN期间，事故相关的出勤率上升至24.2%，尽管总访问量下降了42.8%，住院放弃率也有所下降。在postemp - pan中，总出勤率仍然比PRE-PAN低9.6%，与事故相关的出勤率下降到8.4%，关键分诊代码的比例增加。0-5岁儿童的访问量有所下降，而青少年的访问量有所上升。结论：大流行期间的应急措施显著影响了PED的使用，改变了获取模式、临床严重程度和年龄分布。虽然目前不是意大利医疗保健系统的一部分，但在未来的计划中可能会考虑执业护士，以支持儿科急诊护理的变化，特别是在公共卫生压力的背景下。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Pediatric Health Care NURSING-PEDIATRICS

CiteScore

3.40

自引率

10.70%

发文量

140

审稿时长

24 days

期刊介绍： The Journal of Pediatric Health Care, the official journal of the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners, provides scholarly clinical information and research regarding primary, acute and specialty health care for children of newborn age through young adulthood within a family-centered context. The Journal disseminates multidisciplinary perspectives on evidence-based practice and emerging policy, advocacy and educational issues that are of importance to all healthcare professionals caring for children and their families.