Journal of Emergency Practice and Trauma

Medical errors during COVID-19 pandemic: the role of emergency medicine

Document Type : Case Report

Authors

Shaghayegh Rahmani 1
Kosar Deldar 2
Sara Hemati Ali 3

1 Innovated Medical Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Mashhad, Iran

2 Department of Emergency Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, North Khorasan University of Medical sciences, Bojnourd, Iran

3 Department of Emergency Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical sciences, Mashhad, Iran

https://doi.org/10.34172/jept.2020.28
Abstract
Objective: Nowadays, many countries all over the world are involved with COVID-19 and the number of new cases and deaths are on a rise. The role of emergency medicine and physician-led triage is important in this period. We report some near missed cases in our academic center related to this pandemic.
Case Presentation: We report 5 cases that missed triage or received delayed diagnosis because of COVID-19 suspicion. Some cases are life threatening.
Conclusion: Although COVID-19 is the main health concern these days, other critical conditions should be considered. Stabilizing patients before transferring them between hospitals should be the essential goal of emergency department whether the patient is Corona virus infected or not. And before any intervention, the safety of healthcare workers must be ensured.

Keywords

COVID-19
Medical error
Emergency medicine
Subjects
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2. Millán R, Thomas-Paulose D, Egan DJ, Nusbaum J, Gupta N. Recognizing and managing emerging infectious diseases in the emergency department [digest]. Emerg Med Pract. 2018; 20 (Suppl 5): 1-2.
3. Giwa A, Ogedegbe C, Murphy CG. Influenza: diagnosis and management in the emergency department. Emerg Med Pract. 2018; 20(12): 1-20.
4. Rahmani Sh. COVID-19 epidemic: What happens to other routine patients admitted in the emergency department? Journal of Emergency Practice and Trauma 2020; 6(2): 53-54. doi: 10.34172/jept.2020.19.
5. Zu ZY, Jiang MD, Xu PP, Chen W, Ni QQ, Lu GM, et al. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): a perspective from China. Radiology. 2020 Feb 21: 200490. doi: 10.1148/radiol.2020200490
Journal of Emergency Practice and Trauma
Volume 7, Issue 2
July 2021
Pages 133-134

  • Receive Date 28 May 2020
  • Revise Date 20 August 2020
  • Accept Date 29 August 2020

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