{"database":"biostudies-literature","file_versions":[],"scores":null,"additional":{"omics_type":["Unknown"],"volume":["9(Suppl)"],"submitter":["Zaidi AA"],"funding":["Carnegie Corporation of New York","The Emergency Medicine Foundation"],"pubmed_abstract":["<h4>Background</h4>Sub-Saharan Africa bears a disproportionate burden of mortality from trauma. District hospitals, although not trauma centres, play a critical role in the trauma care system by serving as frontline hospitals. However, the clinical characteristics of patients receiving trauma care in African district hospitals remains under-described and is a barrier to trauma care system development. We aim to describe the burden of trauma at district hospitals by analysing trauma patients at a prototypical district hospital emergency centre.<h4>Methods</h4>An observational study was conducted in August, 2014 at Wesfleur Hospital, a district facility in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. Data were manually collected from a paper registry for all patients visiting the emergency centre. Patients with trauma were selected for further analysis.<h4>Results</h4>Of 3299 total cases, 565 (17.1%) presented with trauma, of which 348 (61.6%) were male. Of the trauma patients, 256 (47.6%) were ages 18-34 and 298 (52.7%) presented on the weekend. Intentional injuries (assault, stab wounds, and gunshot wounds) represented 251 (44.4%) cases of trauma. There were 314 (55.6%) cases of injuries that were unintentional, including road traffic injuries. There were 144 (60%) intentionally injured patients that arrived overnight (7pm-7am). Patients with intentional injuries were three times more likely to be transferred (to higher levels of care) or admitted than patients with unintentional injuries.<h4>Conclusion</h4>This district hospital emergency centre, with a small complement of non-EM trained physicians and no trauma surgical services, cared for a high volume of trauma with over half presenting on weekends and overnight when personnel are limited. The high volume and rate of admission/ transfer of intentional injuries suggests the need for improving prehospital trauma triage and trauma referrals. The results suggest strengthening trauma care systems at and around this resource-limited district hospital in South Africa may help alleviate the high burden of post-trauma morbidity and mortality."],"journal":["African journal of emergency medicine : Revue africaine de la medecine d'urgence"],"pagination":["S14-S20"],"full_dataset_link":["https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC6497867"],"repository":["biostudies-literature"],"pubmed_title":["The burden of trauma at a district hospital in the Western Cape Province of South Africa."],"pmcid":["PMC6497867"],"pubmed_authors":["De Vries S","Mould-Millman NK","Ginde A","Zaidi AA","Lupez K","Wallis LA","Dixon J"],"additional_accession":[]},"is_claimable":false,"name":"The burden of trauma at a district hospital in the Western Cape Province of South Africa.","description":"<h4>Background</h4>Sub-Saharan Africa bears a disproportionate burden of mortality from trauma. District hospitals, although not trauma centres, play a critical role in the trauma care system by serving as frontline hospitals. However, the clinical characteristics of patients receiving trauma care in African district hospitals remains under-described and is a barrier to trauma care system development. We aim to describe the burden of trauma at district hospitals by analysing trauma patients at a prototypical district hospital emergency centre.<h4>Methods</h4>An observational study was conducted in August, 2014 at Wesfleur Hospital, a district facility in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. Data were manually collected from a paper registry for all patients visiting the emergency centre. Patients with trauma were selected for further analysis.<h4>Results</h4>Of 3299 total cases, 565 (17.1%) presented with trauma, of which 348 (61.6%) were male. Of the trauma patients, 256 (47.6%) were ages 18-34 and 298 (52.7%) presented on the weekend. Intentional injuries (assault, stab wounds, and gunshot wounds) represented 251 (44.4%) cases of trauma. There were 314 (55.6%) cases of injuries that were unintentional, including road traffic injuries. There were 144 (60%) intentionally injured patients that arrived overnight (7pm-7am). Patients with intentional injuries were three times more likely to be transferred (to higher levels of care) or admitted than patients with unintentional injuries.<h4>Conclusion</h4>This district hospital emergency centre, with a small complement of non-EM trained physicians and no trauma surgical services, cared for a high volume of trauma with over half presenting on weekends and overnight when personnel are limited. The high volume and rate of admission/ transfer of intentional injuries suggests the need for improving prehospital trauma triage and trauma referrals. The results suggest strengthening trauma care systems at and around this resource-limited district hospital in South Africa may help alleviate the high burden of post-trauma morbidity and mortality.","dates":{"release":"2019-01-01T00:00:00Z","publication":"2019","modification":"2025-04-18T15:28:01.03Z","creation":"2019-06-06T23:10:41Z"},"accession":"S-EPMC6497867","cross_references":{"pubmed":["31073509"],"doi":["10.1016/j.afjem.2019.01.007"]}}