The prehospital paediatric emergency care burden managed by a public ambulance service in the Western Cape, South Africa.

IF 2.3 3区 医学 Q1 EMERGENCY MEDICINE
Naseef Abdullah, Naqeeb Majiet, Simpiwe Sobuwa
{"title":"The prehospital paediatric emergency care burden managed by a public ambulance service in the Western Cape, South Africa.","authors":"Naseef Abdullah, Naqeeb Majiet, Simpiwe Sobuwa","doi":"10.1186/s12873-024-01146-z","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Paediatric mortality rates in low- and middle-income countries account for over 80% of the global burden. In South Africa, one in every 33 children will not reach the age of five. Despite the high mortality rate, there is a paucity of data describing the prehospital paediatric under-five emergency care burden in South Africa. Such data are essential to inform the development of local prehospital emergency care guidelines and targeted prevention strategies.</p><p><strong>Aim: </strong>This study describes the prehospital paediatric under-five emergency care burden managed by the Western Cape Government Health and Wellness (WCGHW) Emergency Medical Services (EMS) in South Africa.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A retrospective review of the prehospital records was conducted, extracting epidemiological and clinical data from the WCGHW EMS patient record database. The review included all paediatric cases under-five, managed between 1 January 2022 and 31 December 2023, in the Western Cape of South Africa.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>In the 87 457 cases, there was a similar distribution between the primary cases (50.7%) and interfacility transfers (49.3%). Most activations emanated from rural areas (47 980, 54.9%), with respiratory emergencies (30 934, 35.4%), non-cardiac pain (11 381, 13.0%) and trauma (10 831,12.4%) being the most common presenting complaints. Most cases were prioritised as priority 2 (46 034, 52.6%), with most of these being older children between one and five years old (29 008, 63.0). Low acuity cases accounted for 67.2% (58 818) of the sample, with the highest mortality occurring between 29 days and 12 months (190, 52.9.%). Most patients spent less than one hour in the prehospital setting (64 431, 73.7%), with advanced airway management (748, 43.1%) being the most common airway intervention.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>This first description of the prehospital paediatric under-five emergency care burden managed by the WCGHW EMS reveals a unique burden, particularly regarding the high interfacility transfer rates. As illustrated in graphical abstract, these findings underscore critical considerations for healthcare planners and the prehospital training environment. Future research among this population should focus on characterising the reasons for the high interfacility transfer rates through assessments of healthcare access, EMS care quality and post-EMS follow-up.</p>","PeriodicalId":9002,"journal":{"name":"BMC Emergency Medicine","volume":"24 1","pages":"234"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3000,"publicationDate":"2024-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"BMC Emergency Medicine","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s12873-024-01146-z","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"EMERGENCY MEDICINE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background: Paediatric mortality rates in low- and middle-income countries account for over 80% of the global burden. In South Africa, one in every 33 children will not reach the age of five. Despite the high mortality rate, there is a paucity of data describing the prehospital paediatric under-five emergency care burden in South Africa. Such data are essential to inform the development of local prehospital emergency care guidelines and targeted prevention strategies.

Aim: This study describes the prehospital paediatric under-five emergency care burden managed by the Western Cape Government Health and Wellness (WCGHW) Emergency Medical Services (EMS) in South Africa.

Methods: A retrospective review of the prehospital records was conducted, extracting epidemiological and clinical data from the WCGHW EMS patient record database. The review included all paediatric cases under-five, managed between 1 January 2022 and 31 December 2023, in the Western Cape of South Africa.

Results: In the 87 457 cases, there was a similar distribution between the primary cases (50.7%) and interfacility transfers (49.3%). Most activations emanated from rural areas (47 980, 54.9%), with respiratory emergencies (30 934, 35.4%), non-cardiac pain (11 381, 13.0%) and trauma (10 831,12.4%) being the most common presenting complaints. Most cases were prioritised as priority 2 (46 034, 52.6%), with most of these being older children between one and five years old (29 008, 63.0). Low acuity cases accounted for 67.2% (58 818) of the sample, with the highest mortality occurring between 29 days and 12 months (190, 52.9.%). Most patients spent less than one hour in the prehospital setting (64 431, 73.7%), with advanced airway management (748, 43.1%) being the most common airway intervention.

Conclusion: This first description of the prehospital paediatric under-five emergency care burden managed by the WCGHW EMS reveals a unique burden, particularly regarding the high interfacility transfer rates. As illustrated in graphical abstract, these findings underscore critical considerations for healthcare planners and the prehospital training environment. Future research among this population should focus on characterising the reasons for the high interfacility transfer rates through assessments of healthcare access, EMS care quality and post-EMS follow-up.

求助全文
约1分钟内获得全文 求助全文
来源期刊
BMC Emergency Medicine
BMC Emergency Medicine Medicine-Emergency Medicine
CiteScore
3.50
自引率
8.00%
发文量
178
审稿时长
29 weeks
期刊介绍: BMC Emergency Medicine is an open access, peer-reviewed journal that considers articles on all urgent and emergency aspects of medicine, in both practice and basic research. In addition, the journal covers aspects of disaster medicine and medicine in special locations, such as conflict areas and military medicine, together with articles concerning healthcare services in the emergency departments.
×
引用
GB/T 7714-2015
复制
MLA
复制
APA
复制
导出至
BibTeX EndNote RefMan NoteFirst NoteExpress
×
提示
您的信息不完整,为了账户安全,请先补充。
现在去补充
×
提示
您因"违规操作"
具体请查看互助需知
我知道了
×
提示
确定
请完成安全验证×
copy
已复制链接
快去分享给好友吧!
我知道了
右上角分享
点击右上角分享
0
联系我们:info@booksci.cn Book学术提供免费学术资源搜索服务,方便国内外学者检索中英文文献。致力于提供最便捷和优质的服务体验。 Copyright © 2023 布克学术 All rights reserved.
京ICP备2023020795号-1
ghs 京公网安备 11010802042870号
Book学术文献互助
Book学术文献互助群
群 号:481959085
Book学术官方微信