Аннотация
Background: Emergency Departments (EDs) receive
a variety of patients with different exigent and
challenging health conditions. This almost always
puts the staff within the department under intense
pressure which could adversely affect proper
documentations and record keeping. To this end, we
conducted a one-year (01 January to 31 December,
2019) review of ED patient case records.
Objective: The objectives of the study were to
determine the pattern of presentation and missing
diagnoses on patients’ case records at the ED.
Methods: A retrospective review of records of all
patients who presented at the ED within the period
of study was done. Data for the review included
demography and diagnosis by attending emergency
physicians. All cases in which a diagnosis was not
recorded in the ED treatment card were categorized
under missing a diagnosis and those with percentages
less than 0.1 were grouped as other diagnoses.
Results: A total of 9,880 patients were attended to in
- About half (4,868/9880, 49.3%) were males
while (4,987/9880, 50.5%) were females with a small
number without gender specified (25/9880, 0.2%).
The median age of the patients was 38 years with
inter-quartile range of 27 to 54 years. Medical
emergencies were the leading types of emergencies
(5737/9880, 58.1%) followed by surgical
emergencies (3047/9880, 30.8%). The five leading
diagnoses were cardiovascular diseases (1057/9880,
10.7%), Road Traffic Accidents (951/9880, 9.6%),
Malaria (802/9880, 8.1%), Head Injury (408/9880,
4.1%) and Fractures (408/9880, 4.1%). A high
percentage of missing a diagnosis (1260/9880,
12.8%) was recorded.
Conclusion: Our study revealed a high number of
diverse cases at the ED from January to December,
- The largest proportion of patients was in the
age group of 21 to 40 years (40.9%). Medical
emergencies were the commonest (58.4%)
presentation, with cardiovascular emergencies
predominating. A proportion (1260/9880, 12.9%)
of the documentation was missing a diagnosis. There
is the need to improve on the accuracy of
documentation and efficiency delivery in the
Emergency Department. It is also a pointer to the
need to rapidly scale up the current deployment of
electronic medical records systems in the hospital.
Библиографические ссылки
Beltrán Guzmán I, Gil Cuesta J, Trelles M, et al.
Delays in arrival and treatment in emergency
departments: Women, children and non-trauma
consultations the most at risk in humanitarian
settings. PLoS One. 2019;14 (3):e0213362.
Dhingra J, Arora G and Souza PD. A study of
disease pattern in patients presenting in the
emergency department of a tertiary hospital
catering to industrial workers. IOSR J Dent Med
Sci. 2014;13 (5):71-75.
Uzoechina Jr NS, Abiola AO, Akoku BA, et al.
MA. Pattern and outcome of cases seen at the
adult accident and emergency department of the
Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba,
Lagos. Nigerian quarterly journal of hospital
medicine. 2012;22 (3):209-15.
Akpa MR, Alasia DD, Altraide DD, EmemChioma PC and Wokoma IS. Profile and
Outcome of Medical Emergencies in a Tertiary
Health Institution in Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
Nigerian Health Journal. 2013 Jul 8;13 (1):48-
Obermeyer Z, Abujaber S, Makar M, et al.
Emergency care in 59 low-and middle-income
countries: a systematic review. Bulletin of the
World Health Organization. 2015; 93:577-586.
Yosha HD, Tadele A, Teklu S and Melese KG. A
two-year review of adult emergency department
mortality at Tikur Anbesa specialized tertiary
hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. BMC
emergency medicine. 2021 Dec;21 (1):1-9.
Woyessa, A.H., Dibaba, B.Y., Hirko, G.F. and
Palanichamy, T. Spectrum, pattern, and clinical
outcomes of adult emergency department
admissions in selected hospitals of Western
Ethiopia: a hospital-based prospective
study. Emergency Medicine International, 2019.
Afuwape OO, Alonge TO and Okoje VM. Pattern
of the cases seen in the accident and emergency
department in a Nigerian Tertiary Hospital over
a period of twelve months. The Nigerian
Postgraduate Medical Journal. 2007 Dec
;14(4):302-305.
Ogah OS, Stewart S, Onwujekwe OE, et al.
Economic burden of heart failure: investigating
outpatient and inpatient costs in Abeokuta,
Southwest Nigeria. PloS one. 2014 Nov 21;9
(11):e113032.
Jamoh BY, Abubakar SA and Isa SM. Morbidity
and mortality profile of patients seen in medical
emergency unit of a Teaching Hospital in
Nigeria: A 4-year audit. Sahel Medical Journal.
Oct 1;21 (4):213
Osime OC, Ighedosa SU, Oludiran OO, et al.
Patterns of trauma deaths in an accident and
emergency unit. Prehospital and disaster
medicine. 2007 Feb;22 (1):75-78.
Isezuo SA. Seasonal variation in hospitalisation
for hypertension-related morbidities in Sokoto,
north-western Nigeria. Int J Circumpolar Health.
;62(4):397–409.
Chan CL, Lin W, Yang NP, Lai KR and Huang
HT. Pre-emergency-department care-seeking
patterns are associated with the severity of
presenting condition for emergency department
visit and subsequent adverse events: A timeframe
episode analysis. Plos one. 2015 Jun 1;10
(6):e0127793.
Thanni LO and Kehinde OA. Trauma at a
Nigerian teaching hospital: pattern and
documentation of presentation. African Health
Sciences. 2006 Sep 25;6(2):104-107.