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Ambulance use is not associated with patient acuity after road traffic collisions: a cross-sectional study from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Africa accounts for one sixth of global road traffic deaths-most in the pre-hospital setting. Ambulance transport is expensive relative to other modes of pre-hospital transport, but has advantages in time-sensitive, high-acuity scenarios. Many countries, including Ethiopia, are expanding ambulance fleets, but clinical characteristics of patients using ambulances remain ill-defined. METHODS:This is a cross-sectional study of 662 road traffic collisions (RTC) patients arriving to a single trauma referral center in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, over 7 months. Emergency Department triage records were used to abstract clinical and arrival characteristics, including acuity. The outcome of interest was ambulance arrival. Secondary outcomes of interest were inter-facility referral and referral communication. Descriptive and multivariable statistics were computed to identify factors independently associated with outcomes. RESULTS:Over half of patients arrived with either high (13.1%) or moderate (42.2%) acuity. Over half (59.0%) arrived by ambulance, and nearly two thirds (65.9%) were referred. Among referred patients, inter-facility communication was poor (57.7%). Patients with high acuity were most likely to be referred (aOR 2.20, 95%CI 1.16-4.17), but were not more likely to receive ambulance transport (aOR 1.56, 95%CI 0.86-2.84) or inter-facility referral communication (aOR 0.98, 95%CI 0.49-1.94) than those with low acuity. Nearly half (40.2%) of all patients were referred by ambulance despite having low acuity. CONCLUSIONS:Despite ambulance expansion in Addis Ababa, ambulance use among RTC patients remains heavily concentrated among those with low-acuity. Inter-facility referral appears a primary contributor to low-acuity ambulance use. In other contexts, similar routine ambulance monitoring may help identify low-value utilization. Regional guidelines may help direct ambulance use where most valuable, and warrant further evaluation.

SUBMITTER: Abebe Y

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5810000 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Ambulance use is not associated with patient acuity after road traffic collisions: a cross-sectional study from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Abebe Yonas Y Dida Tolesa T Yisma Engida E Silvestri David M DM

BMC emergency medicine 20180213 1

<h4>Background</h4>Africa accounts for one sixth of global road traffic deaths-most in the pre-hospital setting. Ambulance transport is expensive relative to other modes of pre-hospital transport, but has advantages in time-sensitive, high-acuity scenarios. Many countries, including Ethiopia, are expanding ambulance fleets, but clinical characteristics of patients using ambulances remain ill-defined.<h4>Methods</h4>This is a cross-sectional study of 662 road traffic collisions (RTC) patients arr ...[more]

PMID: 29433441

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Project description:BackgroundRoad Traffic crash injury is one of the main public health problems resulting in premature death and disability particularly in low-income countries. However, there is limited evidence on the crash fractures in Ethiopia.ObjectiveThe study was conducted to assess the magnitude of road traffic crash fractures and visceral injuries.MethodsA hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 420 fracture patients. Participants were randomly selected from Addis Ababa City hospitals. The study was carried out between November 2019 and February 2020. Data were collected using a questionnaire and record of medical findings. Multilevel logistic regression analysis was carried out. Ethical clearance was obtained from the Addis Ababa University, College of Health Sciences Institutional Review Board. Confidentiality of participants' information was maintained.ResultsThe study found out that the majority 265 (63. 1%) of fracture cases were younger in the age group of 18 to 34 years. Males were more affected-311(74.0%). The mortality rate was 59(14.1%), of those 50(85.0%) participants were males. The major road traffic victims were pedestrians-220(52.4%), mainly affected by simple fracture type -105(53.3%) and compound fracture type-92(46. 7%). Drivers mainly suffered from compound fracture type -23 (59.0%). One hundred eighty-two (43.3%) of fracture patients had a visceral injury. Homeless persons who sit or sleep on the roadside had a higher risk of thoracic visceral injury compared to traveler pedestrians (AOR = 4.600(95%CI: 1.215-17.417)); P = 0.025.ConclusionVisceral injury, simple and compound fractures were the common orthopedic injury types reported among crash victims. Males, pedestrians, and young age groups were largely affected by orthopedic fracture cases. Homeless persons who sited or slept on the roadside were significant factors for visceral injury. Therefore, preventing a harmful crash and growing fracture care should be considered to reduce the burden of crash fracture.

Project description:BACKGROUND:Road Traffic Accidents have become an enormous global public health problem killing approximately 1.25 million people and injuring 20 to 50 million others yearly. It is the 10th leading cause of death universally and the number one cause of mortality of the young population between the ages of 5 and 29. Only few studies have been conducted on the severity of road traffic injuries in Ethiopia hence the need for the study. OBJECTIVE:To assess injury severity level and associated factors among road traffic accident victims. METHODS:A cross-sectional study of patients involved in road traffic accident and attended Tirunesh Beijing hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Victims were consecutively recruited until sample size (164) attained during the study period. Data collectors administered a structured questionnaire. The collected data was then entered and cleaned using Epi info and exported to IBM SPSS for statistical analysis. Independent factors associated with injury severity were assessed using bivariate and multivariate logistic regression. RESULTS:A total of 164 road traffic injury victims were included to the study. Prevalence of severe injury accounted for 36.6% of cases. "can read and write" educational status OR 35.194(95% CI; 3.325-372.539), sustaining multiple injury OR 18.400(95% CI; 5.402-62.671), sustaining multiple injury type OR 6.955(95% CI; 1.716-28.185) and being transported by ambulance from the scene of accident OR 13.800(95% CI; 1.481-128.635) were the explanatory variables found to have a statistically significant association with severe injury. CONCLUSION:This study showed road traffic accident is predominantly affecting the economically active, male young population. Not a single victim received pre-hospital care, majority were extracted by bystanders and most used commercial vehicle to be transported to a health institution reflecting the need for improvements in pre-hospital emergency services and socio-economic related infrastructures.

Project description:BACKGROUND:Rubella is a vaccine-preventable contagious disease causing an estimated 100,000 children to be born with congenital rubella syndrome each year globally. Studies documented that 18 rubella outbreaks were occurred each year in Ethiopia. Yeka sub-city woreda 13 public health emergency management office reported two measles suspected cases on 8 February, 2018. We investigated this outbreak to identify its etiology, describe the outbreak and implement control measures. METHODS:We described the outbreak using descriptive epidemiology. The study population was defined as students learning in the school where the outbreak occurred. Suspected rubella case was defined as student with generalized rash whereas confirmed case was suspected case tested positive for rubella IgM. Questionnaires, checklists and students record review were used to collect data. We searched for new cases in classes daily and excluded them from classes. The school environment was assessed and the outbreak was described in person and time. RESULTS:We identified 58 cases (median age: 4.6 years; IQR: 4-5 years) with six of them rubella IgM positive and 52 epidemiologically linked. The outbreak began on 8 February 2018 having multiple intermittent peaks during its course reaching its highest peak at 2 April, 2018 and ended on 20 April, 2018. Index cases were reported from two classes; however, cases were occurred in 13/15(86.67%) of the classes during the entire outbreak. Fifty five percent (32/58) and 45/58(77.59%) of the cases were females and 3-5 years children, respectively. Overall attack rate was 58/531(4.05%). Attack rate was higher in females 32/252 (12.7%) than in males 26/279 (9.32%), and higher 45/275(16.36%) in 3-5 years than those in 5-8 years 13/256(5.08%) children. Case fatality ratio was zero. All cases were vaccinated against measles but unvaccinated against rubella. CONCLUSIONS:Attack rate was higher in females than in males and higher in 3-5 years than 5-8 years children. We recommended establishing rubella surveillance system, conducting sero-prevalence of rubella among child bearing age females and establishing CRS surveillance among young infants to provide evidence-based information for RCV introduction. It was also recommended to develop a national rubella surveillance guideline which aid to exclude rubella cases from schools during outbreak.

Dataset Information

Ambulance use is not associated with patient acuity after road traffic collisions: a cross-sectional study from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

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Ambulance use is not associated with patient acuity after road traffic collisions: a cross-sectional study from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

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