ArticleAfrican journal of emergency medicine : Revue africaine de la medecine d'urgence2019
The burden of trauma at a district hospital in the Western Cape Province of South Africa.
Article in African journal of emergency medicine : Revue africaine de la medecine d'urgence, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers.
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31 citing papers in PubMed, 55 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Impact of Initial Care at a Neurosurgery-Capable Facility on Mortality Among Patients with Moderate-to-Severe Traumatic Brain Injury in South Africa.Neurocritical care · 2026Article
- Association between health system navigation factors and preventable trauma mortality in Western Cape, South Africa.International journal of emergency medicine · 2026Article
- Intubation exposure associated with first-pass success - understanding practitioner-related characteristics in South African EMS.International journal of emergency medicine · 2026Article
- The assessment and management of acute trauma pain in a Cape Town, South Africa Emergency Centre: A retrospective chart review.African journal of emergency medicine : Revue africaine de la medecine d'urgence · 2026Article
- Independent risk of death from hemorrhage and traumatic brain injury in polytrauma: findings from a prospective, multi-center study in the Western Cape of South Africa.World journal of emergency surgery : WJES · 2026Observational
- Experiences of functional recovery after polytrauma in a private Johannesburg healthcare setting: Patients' perspectives.The South African journal of physiotherapy · 2026Article
- Public versus private trauma intensive care unit outcomes: A retrospective cohort study.Journal of the colleges of medicine of South Africa · 2026Article
- Hypocalcemia associated with adverse outcomes following severe traumatic injury in the Western Cape of South Africa: a secondary analysis of multicenter data from the Epidemiology and Outcomes of Prolonged Trauma Care (EpiC) study.International journal of emergency medicine · 2025Article
- Trauma team members' perceptions of the effectiveness of the current trauma care system in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: a phenomenological study.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- Barriers to implementing advanced skills in trauma and emergency nurse specialist practice.Health SA = SA Gesondheid · 2025Article
- Graduate reflections on Community Service: a view of roles in practice.BMC medical education · 2024Article
- Pattern of admission, outcome and predictors of trauma patients visiting the surgical emergency department in comprehensive specialized hospital: a retrospective follow-up study.Annals of medicine and surgery (2012) · 2024Article
- Health equity profile of knee replacement patients in the South African public sector: A descriptive study.The South African journal of physiotherapy · 2024Article
- Safety of Bioplasma FDP and Hemopure in rhesus macaques after 30% hemorrhage.Trauma surgery & acute care open · 2024Article
- Clinical emergency care quality indicators in Africa: a scoping review and data summary.BMJ open · 2023Article
- Establishing a consensus on research priorities in orthopaedic trauma within South Africa.European journal of orthopaedic surgery & traumatology : orthopedie traumatologie · 2023Article
- Rehabilitation Capacity in South Africa-A Situational Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- The Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdowns on Alcohol Consumption and Tobacco Smoking Behaviour in South Africa: A National Survey.European addiction research · 2023Article
- Efficacy of extended focused assessment with sonography for trauma using a portable handheld device for detecting hemothorax in a low resource setting; a multicenter longitudinal study.BMC medical imaging · 2022Observational
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSub-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.
methodsAn 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.
resultsOf 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.
conclusionThis 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.
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