Patterns of injury in penetrating sharp trauma in a Provincial KwaZulu-Natal Hospital
Introduction: Attendances to provincial emergency centres involving penetrating sharp trauma are a frequent occurrence and represent a significant burden on a department’s workload. The majority of studies in this area have been based in major urban hospitals. This is an observational study of patie...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2013-06-01
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| Series: | African Journal of Emergency Medicine |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211419X13000104 |
| _version_ | 1828907949711425536 |
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| author | Andrew Lockyer Rebecca Oram Gustavo Lopez Naleena Lutchminarain Steve Meek |
| author_facet | Andrew Lockyer Rebecca Oram Gustavo Lopez Naleena Lutchminarain Steve Meek |
| author_sort | Andrew Lockyer |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Introduction: Attendances to provincial emergency centres involving penetrating sharp trauma are a frequent occurrence and represent a significant burden on a department’s workload. The majority of studies in this area have been based in major urban hospitals. This is an observational study of patients attending Stanger Hospital Emergency Centre in the rural district of Ilembe with penetrating sharp trauma.
Method: Notes collected from a two-month period in 2011 were reviewed and data collected to determine patient characteristics, wounds inflicted, distribution of injury and patient outcome.
Results: 127 case notes were analysed. The majority of patients were young (median age 27 years), male (108/127; 85%), and had reportedly ingested alcohol (84/127; 66.1%). Most had more than one wound (median 2 wounds per patient) but did not suffer from significant blood loss and there were no deaths. Only 15/127 (11.8%) required hospital admission.
Discussion: Most patients suffered multiple wounds over multiple sites but these did not frequently require admission to hospital and caused no deaths. As long as clinicians remain vigilant for more severe injuries, these patients can generally be treated in low resourced environments. The majority of patients were discharged directly from the Emergency Centre making it the best place for these people to receive health education to prevent further injuries. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T18:02:24Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5ce6afa06e7a49f9b855ec630f37240a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2211-419X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T18:02:24Z |
| publishDate | 2013-06-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | African Journal of Emergency Medicine |
| spelling | doaj.art-5ce6afa06e7a49f9b855ec630f37240a2022-12-21T23:36:10ZengElsevierAfrican Journal of Emergency Medicine2211-419X2013-06-0132677010.1016/j.afjem.2012.11.010Patterns of injury in penetrating sharp trauma in a Provincial KwaZulu-Natal HospitalAndrew Lockyer0Rebecca Oram1Gustavo Lopez2Naleena Lutchminarain3Steve Meek4Stanger Provincial Hospital, Corner of King Shaka and Patterson Street, Stanger 4450, KZN, South AfricaStanger Provincial Hospital, Corner of King Shaka and Patterson Street, Stanger 4450, KZN, South AfricaStanger Provincial Hospital, Corner of King Shaka and Patterson Street, Stanger 4450, KZN, South AfricaStanger Provincial Hospital, Corner of King Shaka and Patterson Street, Stanger 4450, KZN, South AfricaFrenchay Hospital, Frenchay Park Road, Bristol BS16 1LE, UKIntroduction: Attendances to provincial emergency centres involving penetrating sharp trauma are a frequent occurrence and represent a significant burden on a department’s workload. The majority of studies in this area have been based in major urban hospitals. This is an observational study of patients attending Stanger Hospital Emergency Centre in the rural district of Ilembe with penetrating sharp trauma. Method: Notes collected from a two-month period in 2011 were reviewed and data collected to determine patient characteristics, wounds inflicted, distribution of injury and patient outcome. Results: 127 case notes were analysed. The majority of patients were young (median age 27 years), male (108/127; 85%), and had reportedly ingested alcohol (84/127; 66.1%). Most had more than one wound (median 2 wounds per patient) but did not suffer from significant blood loss and there were no deaths. Only 15/127 (11.8%) required hospital admission. Discussion: Most patients suffered multiple wounds over multiple sites but these did not frequently require admission to hospital and caused no deaths. As long as clinicians remain vigilant for more severe injuries, these patients can generally be treated in low resourced environments. The majority of patients were discharged directly from the Emergency Centre making it the best place for these people to receive health education to prevent further injuries.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211419X13000104PenetratingSharpTraumaProvincialAssault |
| spellingShingle | Andrew Lockyer Rebecca Oram Gustavo Lopez Naleena Lutchminarain Steve Meek Patterns of injury in penetrating sharp trauma in a Provincial KwaZulu-Natal Hospital African Journal of Emergency Medicine Penetrating Sharp Trauma Provincial Assault |
| title | Patterns of injury in penetrating sharp trauma in a Provincial KwaZulu-Natal Hospital |
| title_full | Patterns of injury in penetrating sharp trauma in a Provincial KwaZulu-Natal Hospital |
| title_fullStr | Patterns of injury in penetrating sharp trauma in a Provincial KwaZulu-Natal Hospital |
| title_full_unstemmed | Patterns of injury in penetrating sharp trauma in a Provincial KwaZulu-Natal Hospital |
| title_short | Patterns of injury in penetrating sharp trauma in a Provincial KwaZulu-Natal Hospital |
| title_sort | patterns of injury in penetrating sharp trauma in a provincial kwazulu natal hospital |
| topic | Penetrating Sharp Trauma Provincial Assault |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211419X13000104 |
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