 |
Research Article
Care of the “unknown patient” in a Nigerian tertiary hospital setting
1 Department of Surgery, General Surgery Division, Head, Accident and Surgical Emergency Department, Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, Nigeria
2 Department of Surgery, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Division, Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, Nigeria
3 Department of Surgery, Urology Division, Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, Nigeria
4 Department of Psychological Medicine, Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki, Nigeria
Address correspondence to:
Uche Emmanuel Eni
Department of Surgery, Alex Ekwueme University Teaching Hospital (AEFUTHA), Abakaliki, Ebonyi State,
Nigeria
Message to Corresponding Author
Article ID: 100027P16UE2020
Access full text article on other devices
Access PDF of article on other devices
How to cite this article
Eni UE, Nnadozie UU, Ulebe AO, Obayi O. Care of the “unknown patient” in a Nigerian tertiary hospital setting. Edorium J Public Health 2020;7:100027P16UE2020.ABSTRACT
Aims: The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of unknown patients who presented to our facility within a five-year period and to review our care of such patients, with a view for establishing a database that will form the basis for improved care plan.
Methods: We performed a retrospective chart review of all “unknown patients” at the Accident and Surgical Emergency Room (ER) at Alex Ekwueme University Teaching Hospital from January 2015 to December 2019. Data collected included socio-demographics, cause of trauma, type of injury sustained, Revised Trauma Score (RTS), challenges in management, and outcome of treatment. The data was analyzed with SPSS version 20 and discussed.
Results: A total of 15,542 patients presented to the Accident and Surgical Emergency Department of the hospital within the study period, out of which 91 (0.6%) were labeled “unknown patients.” Of these 91 unknown patients, 41 were brought in dead (BID), and 50 were live patients who were admitted to ER and treated. Of the 50 live patients, 38 (76%) were males giving a male to female ratio of 3.2:1. All were secondary to trauma. Majority, 44 (88%) were due to road traffic accident (RTA), while 6 (12%) were due to assault. The type of trauma was predominantly head injury.
Conclusion: The care of the “unknown patients” in our setting is fraught with logistic difficulties. Trauma in association with head injury was the common reason for most admissions. Measures to curb RTAs will go a long way to reduce the incidence.
Keywords: Head injury, Nigeria, Surgical emergency room, Unknown patients
SUPPORTING INFORMATION
Author Contributions
Uche Emmanuel Eni - Substantial contributions to conception and design, Acquisition of data, Analysis of data, Interpretation of data, Drafting the article, Revising it critically for important intellectual content, Final approval of the version to be published
Ugochukwu Uzodimma Nnadozie - Acquisition of data, Analysis of data, Interpretation of data, Revising it critically for important intellectual content, Final approval of the version to be published
Austin O Ulebe - Substantial contributions to conception and design, Revising it critically for important intellectual content, Final approval of the version to be published
Okwudili Obayi - Substantial contributions to conception and design, Revising it critically for important intellectual content, Final approval of the version to be published
Guaranter of SubmissionThe corresponding author is the guarantor of submission.
Source of SupportNone
Consent StatementWritten informed consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this article.
Data AvailabilityAll relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files.
Conflict of InterestAuthors declare no conflict of interest.
Copyright© 2020 Uche Emmanuel Eni et al. This article is distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium provided the original author(s) and original publisher are properly credited. Please see the copyright policy on the journal website for more information.
