Weaknesses and capacities affecting the Prehospital emergency care for victims of road traffic incidents in the greater Kampala metropolitan area: a cross-sectional study

BMC Emergency Medicine

Research Article

Amir Nejati¹  Ali Ardalan²  Joseph Kimuli Balikuddembe³  Owais Raza⁴  Davoud Khorasani-Zavareh⁵ 

[1] Department of Disaster Public Health, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran;Department of Emergency Medicine, Imam Khomeini Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran;Department of Disaster Public Health, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran;National Institute of Health Research, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran;Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA;Department of Disaster Public Health, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran;Tehran University of Medical Sciences–International Campus, Tehran, Iran;East African Center for Disaster Health and Humanitarian Research, Kampala, Uganda;Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran;Tehran University of Medical Sciences–International Campus, Tehran, Iran;Safety Promotion and Injury Prevention Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran;Department of Health in Disaster and Emergency, School of Health, Safety and Environment, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran;Post-Doc Research Fellowship, Department of Clinical Science and Education, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden;

关键词: Uganda;    Kampala;    Road traffic incidents;    Prehospital;    Emergency medical services;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12873-017-0137-2

 received in 2017-06-27, accepted in 2017-08-07,  发布年份 2017

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundPre-hospital emergency care is a vital and integral component of health systems particularly in the resource constrained countries like Uganda. It can help to minimize deaths, injuries, morbidities, disabilities and trauma caused by the road traffic incidents (RTIs). This study identifies the weaknesses and capacities affecting the pre-hospital emergency care for the victims of RTIs in the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area (GKMA).MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted in the GKMA using a three-part structured questionnaire. Data related to the demographics, nature of RTIs and victims’ pre-hospital experience and existing Emergency Medical Services (EMS) were collected from victims and EMS specialists in 3 hospitals and 5 EMS institutions respectively. Data was descriptively analyzed, and after the principal component analysis was employed to identify the most influential weaknesses and capacities affecting the pre-hospital emergency care for the victims of RTI in the GKMA.ResultsFrom 459 RTI victims (74.7% males and 25.3% females) and 23 EMS specialists (91.3% males and 8.7% females) who participated in the study between May and June 2016, 4 and 5 key weaknesses and capacities respectively were identified to affect the pre-hospital emergency care for RTI victims in the GKMA. Although some strengths exist like ambulance facilitation, EMS structuring, coordination and others), the key weaknesses affecting the pre-hospital care for victims were noted to relate to absence of predefined EMS systems particularly in the GKMA and Uganda as a whole. They were identified to involve poor quality first aid treatment; insufficient skills/training of the first responders; inadequate EMS resources; and avoidable delays to respond and transport RTI victims to medical facilities.ConclusionsThough some strengths exist, the weaknesses affecting prehospital care for RTI victims primarily emanate from the absence of predefined and well-organized EMS systems in the GKMA and Uganda as a whole.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2017