Association between school learning models and psychological and social health visits to the emergency room.

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to assess the impact of in-person and distance school learning models on children's visits to the emergency department (ED) for psychological or social ("psychosocial") complaints.

METHODS: We analyzed presentations to one emergency department in a mid-sized Midwestern city. We used the public school system schedule to determine in-person and distance learning periods by the grade level. We calculated the incidence of visits to the emergency department during academic years 2018-2019, 2019-2020, and 2020-2021, with particular attention to the time after March 13, 2020, which was the pandemic period. We compared the incidence of visits during in-person versus distance learning school models.

RESULTS: A total of 7181 visits occurred during the academic years studied, 17.1% due to psychosocial complaints. The incidence of psychosocial visits to the ED was lower during distance learning than during the pandemic in-person learning period (given per 1000 student years: 20.5 vs. 24.1, p  = 0.14). This difference was statistically significant among middle schoolers (23.3 vs. 46.6, p  < 0.001). While not statistically significant, the difference among high schoolers was pragmatically relevant (38.2 vs. 49.3, p  = 0.086).

CONCLUSIONS: Distance learning was associated with a decrease in the incidence of psychosocial visits to the emergency department relative to in-person learning. Future investigation is required to verify results and better understand any causative relationships.