Impact of COVID-19 on Medical Service Utilization in Gastroenterology: A Community Hospital in Taiwan as an Example

COVID-19對消化內科醫療利用之影響：以台灣北部某醫院為例

翁詩涵(Shih-Han Weng) ； 胡曉雲(Hsiao-Yun Hu) ； 周奕彰(Yi-Chang Chou) ； 林志陵(Chih-Lin Lin)

《北市醫學雜誌》 18卷2期 (2021/06) Pp. 227-235

https://doi.org/10.6200/TCMJ.202106_18(2).0012

摘要

Objective: To investigate the impact of COVID-19 on medical service utilization in gastroenterology. Methods: Patients visiting the gastroenterology department of the Taipei City Hospital, Renai Branch were divided into two groups according to the visiting periods: January- May 2019 (before COVID-19 pandemic) and January-May 2020 (during COVID-19 pandemic). We compared the monthly medical utilization before and during pandemic for each month. Results: Comparing the data of previous and current year in the same period, we found a reduction of outpatients by 34% and inpatients by 14%. During the peak of the epidemic between 16 March and 31 March, patients who visited the gastroenterology outpatient clinic were reduced by 40%. No significant differences in inpatient characteristics were found between before and after the COVID-19 outbreak. Patients who underwent abdominal ultrasonography and esophagogastroduodenoscopy were reduced by 43%-63% from March to April 2020, when the pandemic was most severe, and an approximately 13%-27% reduction was observed during May 2020 comparing with the same month period in 2019. Conclusions: We observed significant reductions in the numbers of outpatients, inpatients, and patients who underwent gastroenterological examinations during the same period in the previous year. As the pandemic has gradually resolved, a rapid increase in the number of patients who underwent routine examinations at the outpatient clinic was observed.

關鍵字

abdominal ultrasonography ； COVID-19 ； esophagogastroduodenoscopy ； gastroenterology ； medical utilization

並列摘要

目的：探討新型冠狀病毒肺炎疫情（COVID-19）對於消化內科醫療利用之影響。方法：本研究將臺北市立聯合醫院仁愛院區消化內科門診之病患以時間區分為兩組－2019年1－5月（COVID-19前）與2020年1－5月（COVID-19後），並逐月同期比較疫情前後的醫療利用情形。結果：與去年同期相比，COVID-19期間（2020年1－5月）消化內科門診就診人次下降34％，住院人次下降14％。在3／16－3／31這段高峰期消化內科門診就醫人次也較去年同期下降40％。在住院病患的特性方面，疫情前後無顯著差異。腹部超音波及上呼吸道泛內視鏡檢查人次在疫情最嚴重的3－4月間大幅減少43％－63％，5月份則減少13％－27％。結論：在COVID-19期間，消化內科的門、住診及檢查人次相較往年同期都明顯減少。隨著疫情趨緩，門診常做檢查量有較快速的回升的現象。

並列關鍵字

腹部超音波 ； COVID-19 ； 上呼吸道泛內視鏡 ； 消化內科 ； 醫療利用