Pattern of paediatric conditions seen in the children emergency room of an urban hospital in South-Eastern Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Children Emergency Room (CHER) is a vital health care services point in many hospitals and can contribute beneficially in the evaluation of many hospitals ncluding tertiary ones. It enables many paediatric cases to be managed in the hospitals without being admitted into the paediatric wards with good outcomes. Material and Methods: This was a retrospective study involving review of records of all the children seen in the CHER between January 2012 and June 2012. The objectives were to look at the pattern and outcome of paediatric conditions in CHER with the aim of providing data for further evaluation and improvement. A proforma developed by the authors was used in collecting the relevant information from the patients’ records. The data collected was simply analyzed. Results: The total of 486 paediatric patients who satisfied the inclusion and exclusion criteria were seen in the CHER. Those less then one year of age constituted 58.6% of the patients. Majority (56.8%) of the patients were males. Also 52.9% of the patients lived in the rural areas. There was preponderance (96.7%) of medical conditions. Majority of both the males (78.6%) and females (72.4%) were discharged. Only 6.17% of the patients died while 15.6% were admitted into the wards. Conclusion: There was a preponderance of varieties of medical conditions in our environment with infections constituting the majority with resultant relative high mortality. Thus improvement in the uptake of the different childhood survival strategies including immunization and breast feeding will help in minimizing these problems.