Browsing by Subject "COVID-19"

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The COVID-19 pandemic and emergencies in Otolaryngology-head and neck surgery: An analysis of patients presenting to emergency rooms in South-West Germany: A bi-center study
(2024) Wolpert, Stephan; Knoblich, Nora; Holderried, Martin; Becker, Sven; Schade-Mann, Thore; Wolpert, Stephan; Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery, University Hospital Tübingen, BW, Elfriede-Aulhorn-Straße 5, 72076 Tübingen, Germany; (S.W.);; Knoblich, Nora; Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery, University Hospital Tübingen, BW, Elfriede-Aulhorn-Straße 5, 72076 Tübingen, Germany; (S.W.);; Holderried, Martin; Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery, University Hospital Tübingen, BW, Elfriede-Aulhorn-Straße 5, 72076 Tübingen, Germany; (S.W.);; Becker, Sven; Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery, University Hospital Tübingen, BW, Elfriede-Aulhorn-Straße 5, 72076 Tübingen, Germany; (S.W.);; Schade-Mann, Thore; Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery, University Hospital Tübingen, BW, Elfriede-Aulhorn-Straße 5, 72076 Tübingen, Germany; (S.W.);; Mitra, Amal K.
This study was designed to examine the changes in emergency room visits in otolaryngology, head and neck surgery, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study included 11,277 patients who presented to a tertiary care hospital (ER) and an emergency practice (EP) during on-call hours in the first half of 2018, 2019, and 2020. The epidemiologic parameters, diagnoses, and level of urgency were recorded using a four-step scale. A comparison was made between the pre-pandemic years and 2020. The findings revealed a significant decrease in the frequency of ER visits in the second quarter of 2020 compared to 2019 (ER: 30.8%, EP: 37.8%), mainly due to the fact that there were significantly fewer patients, with low levels of urgency. Certain diagnoses, such as epistaxis (−3.0%) and globus sensation (−3.2%), were made at similar frequencies to 2019, while inflammatory diseases like skin infections (−51.2%), tonsillitis (−55.6%), sinusitis (−59%), and otitis media (−70.4%) showed a significant reduction. The study concludes that patients with a low triage level were less likely to visit the ER during the early stages of the pandemic, but some diagnoses were still observed at comparable rates. This suggests a disparity in perception between patients and ER staff regarding urgency. Many of the issues discussed were also emphasized in the 2024 proposal by the German Ministry of Health to reform emergency care in Germany.
The return of happiness : resilience in times of pandemic
(2022) Ahlheim, Michael; Kim, In Woo; Vuong, Duy Thanh
Many papers have been written about peoples loss of life satisfaction during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, but not much has been said about their resilience after the first shock had passed. Were people able to return, at least in part, to their original level of life satisfaction? This amounts to the question to which degree people had shown psychological resilience during the first wave of the COVID-19 crisis. In this context, it is also of interest which internal and external factors supported a persons tendency to prove resilient during the crisis. Based on an online survey conducted in August / September 2020 in Germany we try to answer these questions. We find that after a loss of average life satisfaction during the first three months after the outbreak of the pandemic in Germany many peoples life satisfaction increased again. Roughly 60% of the respondents proved resilient in the sense that eight months after the outbreak of the pandemic they had regained the same or an even higher level of life satisfaction as compared to the situation before the COVID-19 crisis. Our results show that besides socioeconomic characteristics like age and income and certain character traits, peoples personal experience during the crisis and their approval or disapproval of government policy during the crisis had an important influence on their chance to prove resilient. Therefore, a consistent and competent crisis communication building up trust in governments crisis management capacity is essential for peoples resilience in a crisis.