Prehospital treatment of burns in Tanzania: a mini-meta-analysis

International Journal of Burns and Trauma

Notikela Nyamle¹  Abel Thobias²  Peter M Shirima³  Anne H Outwater⁴  Greyson Mtavangu⁵ 

[1] Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children, Mafia District Hospital, Mafia, Tanzania;Nursing Services, Bugando Medical Centre, Mwanza, Tanzania;Nursing Services, Muhimbili Academic Medical Centre, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania;School of Nursing, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Dar es Salaam 65004, Tanzania;School of Pharmacy, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

关键词: Prehospital care;    Africa;    Tanzania;    burn injuries;    first aid;    community education;    health worker curriculum;   

DOI  :  

学科分类：外科医学

来源: e-Century Publishing Corporation

【 摘 要 】

The present study describes initial burn injury care in Tanzania-materials applied, sources of information, reasons for applying the materials, and time to a health centre-in order to suggest ways to optimize initial care. Eight small studies were conducted in which burn-injured patients were interviewed who had been admitted to referral hospitals in four regions in Tanzania. Most burn injuries in Tanzania occur in the home cooking area, and it was found that the first responders were family members, friends, and neighbours. A total of 710 burn victims were interviewed. Twenty-four different materials were applied to the patients’ wounds. The most common application was honey. Only 14.3% of the victims received the recommended form of care: application of cool water. It was also found that nothing was applied to the wounds of 17.5% of these patients by first responders. Sources of information on burn treatment were family, friends and neighbours, and, less often, health workers or the media. Most of the burn victims’ households had enough water to enable administration of recommended initial care. The main impediment to the provision of appropriate initial treatment of a burn appears to be lack of correct and useful knowledge about what to do immediately after the injury. A two-pronged educational approach should be used to improve care. A national mass media campaign should start immediately to inform ordinary citizens about proper initial treatment of burns. In addition, curricula of all schools that train health workers need to be reviewed for accuracy, and appropriate knowledge about initial care of burn victims should be added if necessary. Measures to improve burn first aid, are relatively easy, even in a low-income country such as Tanzania.

【 授权许可】

CC BY-NC