Experience of a Neuro-Emergency Expert in the Emergency Department during One Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Jung, Yong-Won; Ha, Sang-Ook; Kim, Jin-Hyouk; Yang, Won-Seok; Park, Young-Sun

We aimed to evaluate the overall clinical characteristics of patients treated by a neuro-emergency expert dedicated to the emergency department (ED) as an attending neurologist during the COVID-19 pandemic. We included adult patients who visited the ED between 1 January and 31 December 2020 and were treated by a neuro-emergency expert. We retrospectively obtained and analyzed the data on patients’ clinical characteristics and outcome. The neuro-emergency expert treated 1155 patients (mean age, 62.9 years). The proportion of aged 18–40 years was the lowest, and the most common modes of arrival were public ambulance (50.6%) and walk-in (42.3%). CT and MRI examinations were performed in 94.4 and 33.1% of cases, respectively. The most frequent complaints were dizziness (31.8%), motor weakness (24.2%), and altered mental status (15.8%). The ED diagnoses were acute ischemic stroke (19.8%), benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (14.2%), vestibular neuritis (9.9%), and seizure (8.8%). The mean length of stay in the ED was 207 min. Of the patients, 55.0% were admitted to the hospital, and 41.8% were discharged for outpatient follow-up. Despite the longer stay and the complexity and difficulty of neurological diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic, the accurate diagnosis and treatment provided by a neuro-emergency expert can be presented as a good model in the ED.