Emergency Department and Hospitalization Processes After the February 6 Earthquake: Resource Utilization and Patient...

Major earthquakes place a substantial and evolving burden on emergency departments, yet data on temporal changes in patient profiles, resource utilization, and outcomes remain limited.

To evaluate temporal changes in patient characteristics, diagnostic resource utilization, treatment approaches, and clinical outcomes among patients hospitalized after the February 6, 2023, earthquakes.

This retrospective observational cohort study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital in the disaster region. Adult patients hospitalized via the emergency department within 7 days were included. Demographics, diagnostic resource use, treatments, early warning scores (modified early warning score [MEWS] and rapid emergency medicine score [REMS]), and mortality were analyzed.

A total of 1050 hospitalized patients were analyzed. Trauma-related admissions accounted for 80.8%, while medical conditions comprised 19.2%. Trauma admissions were concentrated in the first 3 days (71.4%), whereas medical admissions predominated later (52.4%, p < 0.001). Medical patients were older and had higher intensive care unit admission rates (61.9%) and mortality (16.8%). Laboratory testing was performed in 98.1% of patients, x-ray in 68.1%, computed tomography in 59.0%, and magnetic resonance imaging in 2.3%. Diagnostic turnaround times were longer in trauma patients (p < 0.05). Surgical intervention was required in 55.4%, mostly within the first 3 days. Both MEWS and REMS were associated with mortality and demonstrated good discriminatory performance (area under the curve 0.87 and 0.82).

Patient characteristics, resource use, and outcomes vary over time after a major earthquake. Early phases are dominated by trauma and surgical demand, whereas later phases involve medically complex patients with higher mortality risk. Early warning scores may support risk stratification; however, their role in real-time triage requires prospective validation.