As the New Year approaches, the emergency departments of hospitals in major Lithuanian cities are preparing for a greater flow of patients. An influx of patients is predicted both on the eve and in the morning of the first day of the year, so hospitals in Vilnius are increasing the number of staff, Beautiful medics replenish supplies to treat minor injuries, and Klaipėda on-call surgeons, traumatologists and neurosurgeons are called to help.
Will supplement the staff on duty
"During the first day of 2022, 282 patients were registered in the Emergency Department of the Republican Vilnius University Hospital (RVUL). This number corresponds to the average number of daily patients in our institution, so we expect a similar flow this year as well", said hospital representative Dalia Smagurauskaitė in a comment sent to Elta.
According to her, on the first day of the year, more orthopedic traumatologists will be on duty in the Emergency Department than usual. "As every day, security guards will be working," added D. Smagurauskaitė.
According to her, on New Year's Eve, patients usually start pouring into the Emergency Department a few minutes after midnight. The flow does not decrease until the morning and continues throughout the first day of January.
"Usually people apply after experiencing various injuries, such as bruises, wounds, broken limbs. Also, patients intoxicated by alcohol and narcotic substances, psychotic, experiencing pain in the abdominal area", said the representative of RVUL.
Attention - to additional measures
The number of doctors in the Emergency Department of Kaunas Clinics of the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences Hospital will not be increased on New Year's Eve. Typically, 20 to 30 doctors and nurses work in this department.
"We are not planning to increase the staff, but we are paying more attention to the measures that will be needed. Historically, we have planned more personnel, but this year we are not planning," said Linas Darginavičius, head of the Kaunas Clinics Emergency Department.
However, according to the head of the department, the staff arranges for special measures to treat minor injuries.
"The most important focus is the means, because we expect, as in previous years, that more trauma patients will be received. As a rule, many different eye injuries are received on New Year's Eve, and accordingly the flow of eye injury patients is always significantly higher," said L. Darginavičius.
"In terms of the nature of all the injuries, we're expecting more, so that means more casts, more stitches, things like that. We focus more on these things," the doctor noted.
According to L. Darginavičius, people often get injured on the first night of the year when setting off fireworks or firecrackers, as well as during fights or simply opening a bottle of champagne. According to him, it is related to the use of alcohol and other substances.
The Emergency Department is zoned to keep patients safe, he said. "Each part of the department has a different number of staff, so more difficult patients need the same number of staff, lighter ones need a different number of staff, and accordingly (…) the number of staff varies during the day, because we adjust the number of staff according to the number of patients", - explained L. Darginavičius.
He predicts that, as in previous years, the peak flow of patients will be around 21-22 p.m., when the first celebrants arrive.
"That flow should be until around 2-3 in the morning, because that's how it normally happens, then decrease, and then in the morning, from around 10-11 o'clock it should increase again," said L. Darginavičius.
If necessary, a surgeon and a traumatologist will be called to help
"First of all, in Klaipėda, hospitals are scattered during the days of duty. Because Klaipeda is long, there is no such fact based on the place of residence, there are simply standby days. We are just like a hospital on New Year's Eve," Rūta Juškaitė, head of the Admissions Department of Klaipėda University Hospital (KUL), told Elta.
However, the KUL Admissions Department will be on duty on the first day of the new year from 8 am. According to R. Juškaitė, there are two on-call doctors in the Reception Department who are responsible for internal diseases and injuries. If the flow of patients is higher than usual, other on-call doctors will be called to help.
"And there is a neurosurgeon, a traumatologist, a surgeon on duty at the hospital. If necessary, we invite you to the reception department for help. They come, they help, we manage," said the doctor.
"Basically, we are preparing for the New Year in the same way as for the Sea Festival," noted the head of the Reception Department.
In the KUL Admission Department, during the hospital's on-call period, the flow of arrivals is usually about 110-120 patients per day. "Of course, there are always more in the surgical sub-section. About 70-80 people visit the surgical room a day for various reasons - both for abdominal pain and injuries," said R. Juškaitė.
According to her, on the first day of the year, such patients are also received who injured themselves the night before, but due to heavy alcohol consumption, they felt the pain only in the morning.
"There was a guy a few years ago who fell down the stairs on New Year's Eve. Because he was very drunk, he waited until morning, and in the morning he felt that his neck hurt. He arrived, it turns out that his neck was broken. Of course, nothing bad happened to him there, he was not paralyzed, but people wait even with such injuries. It could be those who have been there", - doctor R. Juškaitė shared her memories of being on duty on the first day of the year.
Irtautė Gutauskaitė (ELTA)
