Impact of Military Conflict on a Civilian Receiving Hospital in a War Zone

OBJECTIVE: To study the impact of war on the workload/finances of a community hospital adjacent to the front. SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA: Community hospitals located nearby/within military conflict zones treat trauma casualties while providing routine surgical services to the community. METHODS: Observational study conducted in Ziv hospital (1 of 3 designated receiving hospitals during the second Lebanon War (12/7/2006-14/8/2006). Data were documented in real-time and retrieved retrospectively from computerized databases. RESULTS: Ziv treated 1509 military/civilian casualties. Seven percent were at least moderately injured. 27.5% of the casualties required admission, preferentially to surgical wards. Critical mortality rate was 7%. There were 48 secondary transfers, half from the department of emergency medicine (ED) and half after in-hospital stabilization/emergency surgery including 7 to free intensive care (ICU) beds to accommodate expected casualties. The General Surgery department (GSD) performed 81 operating room (OR) procedures, including explorations/debridements for casualties (n = 24, 0-3 per-day), laparotomies for acute abdomen (n = 33) and cancer surgery (n = 11).Compared with previous/later years, there were 23% more trauma casualties presenting to the ED and an increased OR workload for Orthopedic surgery. Decreases occurred in the number of elective and emergency admissions (10%), obstetric deliveries (28%), OR procedures (33%), GSD OR procedures (44%), hospital revenues (up to 43%), yearly hospitalization days (7%), number of hospitalized patients, bed occupancy rates, and visits to outpatient clinics (all 5%). CONCLUSIONS: Treatment of civilian/military casualties resulted in reorganization of hospital operations with significantly decreased accrued revenue. The bulk of the GSD workload shifts from the OR to the ED/wards while Orthopedic procedures and ICU beds become bottlenecks to patient flow during war.