Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to determine the duration of hospital admission of the panic diagnosed patients in surgical pathology, examine the factors that may influence hospital admission time, and identify the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on hospital admission time. Methods: The panic diagnosed patients in surgical pathology between January 2018 and January 2021 were determined. These patients' demographic, clinical, and critical diagnostic form data were documented. The duration of hospital admission of patients during and pre-COVID-19 pandemic period was determined. Results: There were 65 panic diagnosed cases in surgical pathology, of which one patient had leukocytoclastic vasculitis, 10 patients had uterine contents without villi or trophoblasts, and 54 patients had unexpected malignancy. The mean time of admission to the hospital of verbally informed and not verbally informed cases were five days and 156 days, respectively, in the pre-COVID-19 group. All cases in the COVID-19 pandemic group were verbally informed about critical diagnosis and the mean time of admission to the hospital was 18 days (1-40). Admission times were on mean about 13 days longer in verbally informed cases in the COVID-19 pandemic group compared to verbally informed cases in the pre-COVID-19 group. Conclusions: We determined a dramatic decrease in the number of panic diagnosed cases in surgical pathology during the COVID-19 pandemic and patients who are verbally informed admitted to the hospital in a shorter time. The integration of panic diagnosis notification systems to health applications and primary responsible family physician's systems may be useful for preventing unwanted delays.