Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on ophthalmologic outpatient care: experience from an Italian Tertiary Medical Center.
Ann Med
; 53(1): 1349-1357, 2021 12.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1358395
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE:
To evaluate the impact the COVID-19-related national lockdown has had on Ophthalmologic Outpatient Care in an Italian Tertiary Medical Centre.METHODS:
We reviewed all the performances that were carried out as outpatient services at our department between 1 January 2020 and 30 November 2020. We compared data among four different periods from 1 January 2020 to 17 March 2020 ("Pre-Lockdown"); from 18 March 2020 to 17 May 2020 (Lockdown); from 18 May 2020 to 2 November 2020 (Post-Lockdown) and from 3 November 2020 to 30 November 2020 (Regional Lockdown).RESULTS:
The overall number of performed routine outpatient visits per day (ROVs) was 11,871 (Mean ± SD = 35.76 ± 17.81), whereas booked appointments (BAs) were 21272 (Mean ± SD = 63.86 ± 9.27), meaning a decline in the number of ROVs by 44.01%. (Mean ± SD = 28.10 ± 12.11, p<.001). Post-Lockdown and Regional Lockdown clinical activities, dropped respectively by 31 and 25.14% (38.87 ± 3.88 vs. 56.34 ± 11.06, p<.001 and 6.04 ± 4.51 vs. 56.34 ± 11.06 p<.001). The number of BAs per day decreased during the pandemic, going from a mean of 77.81 ± 2.57 booked appointments per day before the lockdown, to a mean of 53.14 ± 4.94, 61.80 ± 4.62 and 72.07 ± 1.09 appointments per day respectively during the lockdown, the post-lockdown and the regional lockdown periods.CONCLUSIONS:
During the various lockdown periods, at our institution the volume of outpatient ophthalmological visits drastically dropped. This testifies the dramatic impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the supply of ophthalmic care.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Ophthalmology
/
Ambulatory Care
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
English
Journal:
Ann Med
Journal subject:
Medicine
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
07853890.2021.1964036
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