Objective: The study was carried out for the purpose to assess the effect of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic on emergency psychiatric presentations.
Methods: This retrospective, cross-sectional, and descriptive study was conducted in the emergency department of a university hospital in the west of Turkiye. Patients presenting solely due to psychiatric problems on periods December 10, 2019-March 10, 2020 (pre-pandemic) and March 11, 2020-June 11, 2020 (pandemic) were included in the study. The research data determined in the descriptive information form were obtained from the hospital's data processing system based on International Classification of Diseases codes.
Results: In the study, 818 patients were included before the pandemic and 900 patients during the pandemic period. The participants’ mean age was 41.09 years (SD=15.58), and 51.5% (n=884) were women. During the pandemic, presentations due to attempted suicide/suicidal ideation, hallucination and perception problems, depressive mood, and situational crises increased, while those due to aggression, alcohol/substance use, or physical symptoms decreased (P < .05).Also, patients’ triage waiting times, emergency department follow-up times, and numbers of repeat presentations decreased, while the number of patients leaving the emergency department without permission, the number of patients brought in by the ambulance, and psychiatric consultation request rates increased (P < .05).
Conclusion: The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has affected emergency psychiatric presentations. The results are a guide for physicians and nurses in terms of increasing the quality of service in a possible pandemic process. In order to increase the quality of care given to emergency psychiatric patients, it is thought that emergency service personnel should be trained, consultation-liaison services (medicine and nursing), and telepsychiatry services should be developed.
Cite this article as: Büyükbayram Arslan A, Bilgin S. An evaluation of psychiatric presentations in the emergency department before and during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic: Case of Turkiye. Arch Health Sci Res. 2023;10(2):94-100.