The outcome of COVID-19 patients treated in a non-COVID

hospital
Authors : Gabriel Lacatusu, Cristina Martac,Sebastian Isac, Cristina Buzatu,
Daniela Ungureanu, Nuredin Sibel,Diana Jelea, Maricica Carstea, Gabriela Droc

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed a challenge to the entire healthcare system, both for COVID
and non-COVID hospitals. In the context of the pandemic, which affected over 173 million
people with over 3.7 million deaths,COVID and non-COVID hospitals were faced with the
challenge of diagnosing and treating patients with COVID-19. This study aims to exemplify the
experience of our non-COVID hospital during the pandemic.

We conducted an observational, single-center retrospective study, carried out between 1 May

2020- 31 May 2021, on a group of 30 patients, with the main objective of observing surgical and
medical complications and assessing the mortality rate of COVID patients treated in a non-
COVID ICU center. Inclusion criteria : the presence of SARS-COV2 PCR test both at the time
of admission to the ICU or during the ICU stay. Exclusion criteria were: post-resuscitation status,
patients with positive SARS-COV2 test in the history, patients with post-covid status. We
followed the time of diagnosis, length of ICU stay, complications - medical or surgical, specific
and non-specific treatment, mortality. The care of COVID 19 patients in a non-COVID hospital
was a challenge and had several particularities: the time of the diagnosis , their isolation from
non-COVID patients and the difficulty in accessing the specific medication.

Having separate circuits we did not find COVID illnesses among patients admitted to the ICU
for other pathology. The results obtained from our study by analyzing correlation data by which
we evaluated the interaction between these variables are in agreement with the current literature.