International Journal of Nursing Research

Objective: To analyze the effect factors of epidemic of major infectious diseases on pediatric outpatient visits in general hospitals. Methods: Pediatric general outpatients visited from January to June 2020 in a general hospital under epidemic of major infectious diseases were collected retrospectively with patients visited during January to June 2019 as control group. Results: Compared with 2019, paediatrics outpatients were decreased from 8.9% (38625/431976) to 5.2% (17626/336192) in the first half of 2020.In the first half of 2020, the outpatient service rate of pediatric medicine decreased to 71.5% (12,607/17,626), and the outpatient service rate of pediatric surgery and child health care increased to 21.7%(3830/17626) and 6.8%(1189/17626)(P<0.05).The number of medical visited in pediatric patients was significantly reduced in bronchitis, tonsillitis pneumonia, upper respiratory tract infection and asthma (P <0.05).There was no significant difference in the number of patients of intestinal diseases (P>0.05). Conclusion: Epidemic of major infectious diseases has a great impact on internal medicine. Wearing masks and other self-protection measures may effectively reduce the incidence of bronchitis, pneumonia, tonsillitis and upper respiratory tract infection.

Epidemic of major infectious diseases; Number of medical visits; Self protection