Purpose
To profile patient demographics, volume, and eye disease seen by the Inpatient Ophthalmology Consult Service of a large public hospital before and after Hurricane Sandy
Methods
A total of 1,269 consults were seen from 11/1/2011 to 11/30/2013, including the time of closure of the Inpatient Consult Service from 10/31/2012 to 2/9/2013 following Hurricane Sandy. We reviewed inpatient medical records, discharge summaries, and Ophthalmology Consultation Service notes of the first 10 new consults each month for a total of 220 patients.
Results
708 consults with an average of 59 consults per month were seen prior to Hurricane Sandy. 561 consults with an average of 56.1 consults per month were seen after Hurricane Sandy. Of 220 consultation requests reviewed, the mean age was 45.6 years with predominance of male (155, 70.5%) over female (65, 29%) patients. The most common reason for inpatient consultation pre-hurricane and post-hurricane was as follows: decreased vision (18 (15%) and 26 (26%)), eye trauma (28 (23%) and 15 (15%)), rule out systemic disease involvement (12 (10%) and 13 (13%)), and eye pain (10 (8%) and (8) 8%). The most common primary diagnosis was normal exam or refractive error (41 (34%) and 28 (28%)), orbital fracture (18 (15%) and 6 (6%)), blepharitis or dry eye syndrome (11 (9%) and 9 (9%)), and diabetic retinopathy (3 (2%) and 6 (6%)). Of the total consultations seen, 84 (70%) pre-hurricane and 63 (63%) post-hurricane patients were recommended follow up in the Ophthalmology Clinic, and 25 (20%) pre-hurricane and 13 (13%) post-hurricane patients actually followed up. Pre-hurricane insurance status was similar to post-hurricane insurance status: uninsured (53 (44%) and 50 (50%)), Medicaid (38 (32%) and 25 (25%)), other insurance type (14 (12%) and 16 (16%)), and Prison Health Service or Police Custody (13 (11%) and 8 (8%)). For 43 (36%) patients before and 49 (49%) patients after the hurricane, the current inpatient admission was their first admission to Bellevue Hospital. *Note: Results through 2/9/2014 (one year after reopening of the Inpatient Consult Service) will be presented.
Conclusions
This study profiled common diagnosis, follow up rates, volume, and demographics of patients at a large public hospital affected by a major natural disaster. Despite closure for greater than three months, the inpatient consult service recovered without much change in these outcome measures.
Keywords: 460 clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: health care delivery/economics/manpower •
459 clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: biostatistics/epidemiology methodology