The early impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the emergency department at Mater Dei Hospital

Abstract

BACKGROUND: On the 1st of April 2020, Malta declared a Public Health Emergency. Mater Dei Hospital (MDH) is the only public hospital catering for 441,543 inhabitants, until recent 2020 statistics. Several changes had to be implemented to improve the infrastructure, manpower and other resources of the Emergency Department.

METHOD: This observational clinical study is based on retrospective data collected for patients presenting to the Emergency Department between March 2019 to December 2019 and March 2020 to December 2020. Randomisation was attained by choosing the seventh day of each month as to have a different day of the week for each month under study. Following the data collection, a Microsoft Excel Sheet® was created to document and analyse the retrieved information. Permissions to collect this data were duly obtained from the CEO, Data Protection Officer and Clinical Chairperson of the Emergency Department at Mater Dei Hospital.

RESULTS: Between March and December 2019 a total of 1811 patients were seen during the randomised days while 1681 patients were seen between March and December 2020. Data collected showed that Emergency Department attendances decreased by 7.2% while the hospital’s percentage of daily admissions increased by 3.4%, when comparing ten pre-COVID-19 months with the ten initial COVID-19 months.

CONCLUSION: MDH’s Emergency Department, remained the main port of call for the population whether in declared states of health emergencies or not. MDH and its Emergency Department have to remain consistently prepared and resilient to sudden and unexpected patients’ surges.