Treatment outcome of oncologic patients treated in emergency department at black lion specialized hospital, Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Emergency department is a section of an institution that is staffed and equipped to provide rapid and varied emergency care, especially for those who are stricken with sudden and acute illness or who are the victims of severe health problem. Oncology patients in emergency department are causing a significant burden for health care system due to late seeking of care by the cancer patient to the Hospitalat an advanced stage. Methods:A cross-sectional study was conducted at black lion Specialized Hospital. A one-year data was abstracted of 426 cancer diagnosed patients. The extraction was done from April 1 to April 30 2017. Data abstraction format was developed based on the nature of the record.Result: Four hundred twenty-six oncology patients record were analyzed. The mean age was 42.5years. Two hundred twelve (49.8%) and 214 (50.2%) were male and female respectively. Gastrointestinal cancer 128(30%) was the most common cancer type followed by Hematologic81 (19%) cancer. Based on symptoms the common complaints were pain (14.8%), Easily Fatigability (11.7%), Dysphagia (11.5%) and Bleeding (10.8%). Conclusion:The common types of cancer diagnosed at the emergency department were Gastro-intestinal and Hematology malignancies. Pain was the predominant complain among oncology patient present in an emergency department. Most of cancer patients present in emergency department is due to the effect of tumor. One tenth of the patient died while receiving care.