TITLE:
Monitoring Hospital Use in the Epidemic
AUTHORS:
Ronald Lagoe, Shelly Littau
KEYWORDS:
Hospitalization, Epidemic, Influenza
JOURNAL NAME:
Case Reports in Clinical Medicine,
Vol.9 No.7,
June
30,
2020
ABSTRACT: This study reviewed developments in hospitalization in the metropolitan area of Syracuse, New York during the initial months of the Coronavirus epidemic. The study was based on the use of inpatient discharge data and information contained in daily utilization reports for the three hospitals in the community distributed by the Hospital Executive Council. The data demonstrated that the medical-surgical and critical care inpatient census, as well as the emergency department volume peaked in January 2020 and declined gradually during February and the first half of March as a result of the seasonal influenza season prior to the epidemic. The data showed that with the onset of the epidemic in mid-March, the data identified substantial reductions in the use of inpatient beds and the emergency departments. The medical-surgical and critical care censuses declined by 31.2 and 29.3 percent respectively. This resulted from provider and public efforts to free inpatient beds for coronavirus patients. During April and May 2020, the use of medical-surgical beds and emergency departments in the Syracuse hospital gradually increased as the Coronavirus epidemic plateaued. Subsequent data will identify whether the use of inpatient medical - surgical beds and emergency department visits in the Syracuse hospitals return to the levels before the epidemic.