The Impact of the Covid-19 on Hospitals Visits: A Case Study from Tehran

The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has had a devastating effect on the provision and receipt of health services around the world. The present study was conducted with the aim of investigating the effects of this disease on referrals and services of one of the hospitals in Tehran.

In this historical cohort study, the number of referrals and services in 26 hospital departments in the first 6 months of 2018 and the first 6 months of 2018 were investigated and analyzed. The data in the form of a pre-designed Excel form received from the statistics unit and quality improvement unit of the hospital were entered into SPSS software version 26 and analyzed using non-parametric Wilcoxon test.

The load of referrals and services of the studied hospital was reduced by 30 percent during the Covid-19 epidemic. The highest rate of decrease was related to clinics and clinics (55/07 percent) and the lowest rate of decrease was related to emergency services (7/67 percent). CT scan services and referrals increased by 84/5 percent on average. These changes were statistically significant.

The reduction of the burden of referrals and services of the studied hospital is evaluated as medium to high. Healthcare providers should monitor hospital activity and develop strategies to mitigate the indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic resulting from reduced overall hospital activity