Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Orthopedics and Traumatology Service

Uluöz, Mesut Çiloǧlu Osman

Medical records, including in-patient hospitalizations, outpatient clinic attendances, surgical operations performed, and accident and emergency department attendances, were retrieved from the territory-wide clinical data repository. Of the patients who presented at ED with orthopaedic complaints in Period 1, 892 were male, and 782 were female, with an average age of 43 years, and of these, 256 patients were hospitalized in DISCUSSION The results of this comparative study showed a significant increase in the number of patients who presented at ED in Period 2 compared to Period 1, which could be attributed to the difficulties experienced by patients in reaching outpatient clinics during the pandemic. At this stage, primary healthcare centers have a greater duty, as at such times, this intensity can be eliminated by directing non-emergency patients to primary health care facilities or outpatient clinics with triage established outside the ED. According to a study conducted in Turkey, domestic violence has been shown to increase by 27.8% during the pandemic8.