Epidemiology and outcomes of critically ill patients in the emergency department of a tertiary teaching hospital in Rwanda

Background The introduction of Emergency Medicine in Rwanda in 2015 has been associated with a mortality reduction in patients presenting to Kigali University Teaching Hospital (KUTH). In the context of increasing numbers of critically ill patients presenting to Emergency Departments (ED) globally,...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of emergency medicine 2024-11, Vol.17 (1), p.170-8, Article 170
Main Authors: Kamunga B., Laurent Gamy, Bearnot, Courtney J., Martin, Kyle D., Uwamahoro, Doris L., Cattermole, Giles N.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Angiology
Cardiology
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation
CPR
Critical care
Emergency care
Emergency medical care
Emergency Medicine
Internal Medicine
Intubation
LMIC
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Mortality
Pediatrics
Pilot projects
Resuscitation
Rwanda
Teaching hospitals
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Background The introduction of Emergency Medicine in Rwanda in 2015 has been associated with a mortality reduction in patients presenting to Kigali University Teaching Hospital (KUTH). In the context of increasing numbers of critically ill patients presenting to Emergency Departments (ED) globally, the aim of this study was to describe the characteristics of critically ill patients, the critical care interventions performed, and the outcomes of critically ill patients presenting to the KUTH ED with the goal of informing future research into the root causes of mortality of critically ill ED patients and of identifying high yield topics for didactic and procedural training. Methods A descriptive observational prospective cohort pilot study analyzed all patients ≥15 years who presented to KUTH between April and June 2022 with modified South African Triage Scores of Red with alarm, Red without alarm, and Orange. Results Of 320 patients, 66.9% were male and median age was 40 years. Patients were triaged as Orange (65.3%), Red without alarm (22.8%), and Red with alarm (11.9%). Presentations were categorized as: medical emergencies (48.0%), traumatic injury (44.5%), and surgical emergencies (7.6%). Median length of stay was 31 h (IQR 28, 56) and boarding was 23 h (IQR 8, 48). Overall mortality was 12.2% and highest among medical emergencies (16.5%, p  = 0.048) and increased significantly with triage color: Red with alarm (47.4%), Red without alarm (16.4%), and Orange (4.3%, p  
ISSN:1865-1380
1865-1372
1865-1380
DOI:10.1186/s12245-024-00736-9