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A retrospective study of the prehospital burden of trauma managed by the Western Cape Government emergency medical service
Introduction: Trauma is one of the leading causes of premature death and disability in South Africa. There is a paucity of data describing the prehospital trauma burden in sub-Saharan Africa. The aim of this study was to describe the epidemiology and common trauma emergencies managed by the Western...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Department of Surgery
2020
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| _version_ | 1867613468856680448 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Abdullah, Mohammed Naseef |
| author2 | Saunders, Colleen |
| author_browse | Abdullah, Mohammed Naseef Saunders, Colleen |
| author_facet | Saunders, Colleen Abdullah, Mohammed Naseef |
| author_sort | Abdullah, Mohammed Naseef |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Introduction: Trauma is one of the leading causes of premature death and disability in South Africa. There is a paucity of data describing the prehospital trauma burden in sub-Saharan Africa. The aim of this study was to describe the epidemiology and common trauma emergencies managed by the Western Cape Government emergency medical service (WCG EMS) in South Africa. Methods: The WCG EMS call centre registry was retrospectively analysed for all trauma patients managed between 01 July 2017 to 30 June 2018. A descriptive analysis of the data was performed using standard procedures for all variables. To date, this was the first analysis of this dataset or any prehospital trauma burden managed in the Western Cape of South Africa. Results: The WCG EMS managed 492 303 cases during the study period. Of these cases, 168 980 (34.3%) or 25.9 per 1000 population were trauma related. However, only 91 196 met the inclusion criteria for the study. The majority of patients (66.4%) were males and between the socio-economically active ages of 21-40 years old (54.0%). Assaults were the most common cause of trauma emergencies, accounting for 50.2% of the EMS case load managed. The patient acuity was categorised as being urgent for 47.5% of the cases, and 74.9% of the prehospital trauma burden was transported to a secondary level health care facility for definitive care. Conclusion: This is the first report of the prehospital trauma burden managed in the Western Cape of South Africa. The Western Cape suffers a unique trauma burden that differs from what is described by the WHO or any other LMIC. It also provides the foundation for further research towards understanding the emergency care needs in South Africa and to support Afrocentric health care solutions to decrease this public health crisis. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/31491 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:36:38.223Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| publishDateRange | 2020 |
| publishDateSort | 2020 |
| publisher | Department of Surgery |
| publisherStr | Department of Surgery |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/31491 A retrospective study of the prehospital burden of trauma managed by the Western Cape Government emergency medical service Abdullah, Mohammed Naseef Saunders, Colleen McCaul, Michael Nyasulu, Peter Prehospital trauma care Emergency Medical Services Epidemiology Trauma Burden Introduction: Trauma is one of the leading causes of premature death and disability in South Africa. There is a paucity of data describing the prehospital trauma burden in sub-Saharan Africa. The aim of this study was to describe the epidemiology and common trauma emergencies managed by the Western Cape Government emergency medical service (WCG EMS) in South Africa. Methods: The WCG EMS call centre registry was retrospectively analysed for all trauma patients managed between 01 July 2017 to 30 June 2018. A descriptive analysis of the data was performed using standard procedures for all variables. To date, this was the first analysis of this dataset or any prehospital trauma burden managed in the Western Cape of South Africa. Results: The WCG EMS managed 492 303 cases during the study period. Of these cases, 168 980 (34.3%) or 25.9 per 1000 population were trauma related. However, only 91 196 met the inclusion criteria for the study. The majority of patients (66.4%) were males and between the socio-economically active ages of 21-40 years old (54.0%). Assaults were the most common cause of trauma emergencies, accounting for 50.2% of the EMS case load managed. The patient acuity was categorised as being urgent for 47.5% of the cases, and 74.9% of the prehospital trauma burden was transported to a secondary level health care facility for definitive care. Conclusion: This is the first report of the prehospital trauma burden managed in the Western Cape of South Africa. The Western Cape suffers a unique trauma burden that differs from what is described by the WHO or any other LMIC. It also provides the foundation for further research towards understanding the emergency care needs in South Africa and to support Afrocentric health care solutions to decrease this public health crisis. 2020-03-05T13:30:21Z 2020-03-05T13:30:21Z 2019 2020-03-05T06:48:47Z Master Thesis Masters MPhil http://hdl.handle.net/11427/31491 eng application/pdf Department of Surgery Faculty of Health Sciences |
| spellingShingle | Prehospital trauma care Emergency Medical Services Epidemiology Trauma Burden Abdullah, Mohammed Naseef A retrospective study of the prehospital burden of trauma managed by the Western Cape Government emergency medical service |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | A retrospective study of the prehospital burden of trauma managed by the Western Cape Government emergency medical service |
| title_full | A retrospective study of the prehospital burden of trauma managed by the Western Cape Government emergency medical service |
| title_fullStr | A retrospective study of the prehospital burden of trauma managed by the Western Cape Government emergency medical service |
| title_full_unstemmed | A retrospective study of the prehospital burden of trauma managed by the Western Cape Government emergency medical service |
| title_short | A retrospective study of the prehospital burden of trauma managed by the Western Cape Government emergency medical service |
| title_sort | retrospective study of the prehospital burden of trauma managed by the western cape government emergency medical service |
| topic | Prehospital trauma care Emergency Medical Services Epidemiology Trauma Burden |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/31491 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT abdullahmohammednaseef aretrospectivestudyoftheprehospitalburdenoftraumamanagedbythewesterncapegovernmentemergencymedicalservice AT abdullahmohammednaseef retrospectivestudyoftheprehospitalburdenoftraumamanagedbythewesterncapegovernmentemergencymedicalservice |