An Examination of the factors which may affect the duration of admission to the hospital of panic diagnosed patients during and pre-COVID-19 pandemic

Background: The present study aimed to determine the duration of hospital admission of the panic diagnosed patients, examine the factors that may influence hospital admission time, and identify the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on hospital admission time. Materials and methods: In this study, the panic diagnosed patients between January 2018 and January 2021 were determined. These patients’ demographic, clinical, and panic diagnosis form data were documented. The duration of hospital admission of patients during and pre-COVID-19 pandemic period was determined. Results: There were 65 panic diagnosed cases, of which one One patient had leukocytoclastic vasculitis, 10 patients had uterine contents without villi or trophoblasts, and 54 patients had unexpected malignancy. The mean time of admission to the hospital of verbally informed and not verbally informed cases were five days and 156 days, respectively in the pre-COVID group. All cases in the COVID pandemic group were verbally informed about panic diagnosis by phone call. The mean time (day) of admission to the hospital was 18.3 days (1-40). Admission times were on mean about 13.3 days longer in verbally informed cases in the COVID pandemic group compared to verbally informed cases in the pre-COVID group. Conclusion: We determined a dramatic decrease in the number of panic diagnosed cases during the COVID pandemic and patients who are verbally informed admitted to the hospital in a shorter time. Integrations of hospital panic diagnosis notification systems to health application programs and primary responsible family physician’s systems may be useful for preventing unwanted delays.