The diagnostic value of emergency medicine physicians radiological interpretation in patients who had thoracic CT imaging with the prediagnosise of COVID-19 pneumonia at emergency department

Introduction: In the Covid-19 pandemic process, Emergency departments occupy a large place within the health units where patients first apply. Emergency Department physicians are usually the decision-making physicians in diagnosis, treatment and management. The aim of this study is to investigate the diagnostic value of thoracic tomography interpretation of emergency medicine physician. Materials and Method: 2045 CT scans of patients admitted to the emergency department of Akdeniz University Hospital between 30.03.2020 and 30.12.2020 who were pre-diagnosed with Covid-19 pneumonia and underwent Thoracic CT imaging were retrospectively evaluated. The images taken from the hospital information management system were evaluated by Emergency Medicine physicians and compared with the evaluation made by radiology specialists. Results: In the entire patient group, Emergency Medicine Physicians had 66% sensitivity and 92% specificity rates in detecting signs compatible with Covid-19 pneumonia, while in the Covid-19 RT-PCR (+) patient group, they had 96% sensitivity and 82% specificity rates. Conclusion: Emergency Medicine physicians have been able to detect Covid-19 pneumonia with high diagnostic value in Covid-19 (+) patients and have also been able to exclude incompatible findings. When we evaluated the entire group of patients included in the study, emergency medicine physicians excluded Covid-19 pneumonia more than diagnosed Covid-19 pneumonia. The fact that Thoracic CT interpretation of Emergency Medicine Physicians has a high value; It makes an important contribution to decision-making mechanisms in contact tracing, quarantine measures, patient and epidemic management.