Trends in Pediatric Casualties in a Regional Hospital of Kuwait

Abstract

during which a total of 77,497 cases were recorded (41,594 [53.7%] males; 35,903 [46.3%] females). Kuwaiti children represented 40,738 (52.5%) of the total. Children aged 2 to 5 years constituted 22,805 (29.4%) of the cases, and the age group 1 month to 1 year comprised the second largest group (15,475; 19.9%). Admissions peaked in February (8,425 [10.8%]) and Friday was the busiest day (13,561 [17.5%]). There were 61,242 (79.02%) self-referrals. Respiratory diseases were the most common reason for emergency room visits, and totaled 51,583 (66.5%), followed by gastroenteritis with 19,898 (25.7%). This study points up an alarming increase in the number of visits to the casualty clinics of Farwania Hospital. If this increase continues, this will not only markedly increase the burden to staff but will also adversely affect the quality of services.QA Al-Saleh, QA Al-Saleh, HA Qurtom, MM Lubani, TS Al-Shab, MM A-Rasool, SFAl-Derahl, Trends in Pediatric Casualties in A Regional Hospital of Kuwait. 1991; 11(2): 171-174 Over the past few years, there has been an increase in the number of patients attending the casualty clinic of the Paediatric Department of Farwania Regional Hospital. A high percentage of these patients have required primary care and not emergency medicine, a finding reported by other centers [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. A lack of information regarding the users of emergency departments in England was stressed by the Korner Working Party [8] and a similar lack exists for Kuwait.This study aims at a statistical analysis of emergency services, and the following parameters were considered: the number of attenders, types of illness, peak hours of use, and the possible misuse of the pediatric casualty services. To the best of our knowledge, no similar study has been done in Kuwait. MethodsFarwania Hospital is a regional hospital serving a total population of 426,319. Its bed capacity is 520, of which 150 beds are allocated for pediatric use. There are local referring polyclinics that provide complete primary medical care from 7:30 AM until midnight. The policy of the hospital is to examine all patients, with or without referral. Five physicians staff the casualty services around the clock.The present study was conducted 1 July 1987 to 30 June 1988. The information obtained for all patients consisted of: age, sex, nationality, day of week and hour of attendance, referral versus non-referral, casualty diagnosis, diagnostic tests, and whether the patient was admitted. ResultsA total of 77,497 cases were recorded, and consisted of 41,594 (53.6%) males and 35,903 (46.4%) females (male to female ratio, 1.16:1). The males outnumbered the females in all age groups. Kuwaiti children represented 40,738 (52.5%) and children of all other nationalities constituted 36,759 (47.5%). Figure 1 shows the age distribution. There were 22,805 (29.4%) children (aged 2-6 years), and these represented the largest group of patients, followed by the age group 1 month to 1 year (15,475 [19.9%]). Figure 2 illustrates the pattern of the t...

Patterns of Pediatric Emergency Room Visits at King Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh

“…The results of our study showed that over one-third of patients (36%) were in the nonemergency Category 3, which are simple cases such as URTI, mild gastroenteritis, etc., which can be handled at a primary care clinic. Similar observations have been made by Al-Saleh, et al, 3 Halperin et al, 5 and Lane. Braunstein et al 7 have shown that the majority of ER visits were not emergencies, a fact acknowledged by both parents and physicians.…”

“…The busiest months were October to May, as has been observed by Al Saleh et al 3 This is probably due to increased viral infections during the busy winter months, accompanied by asthmatic attacks. In addition, ER visits for acute asthma have been found to increase during winter months and usually in the evening hours, an observation also reported by Canny et al 14 The low attendance found in the months of July and August coincides with annual school holidays, during which many families leave Riyadh on vacation.…”

“…In addition, ER visits for acute asthma have been found to increase during winter months and usually in the evening hours, an observation also reported by Canny et al 14 The low attendance found in the months of July and August coincides with annual school holidays, during which many families leave Riyadh on vacation. The busiest period of the day was from 4 p.m. to 12 p.m. Rothschild et al 15 and Al Maani et al 9 have reported 8 a.m. to 12 a.m. in their study and Al Saleh et al 3 reported 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. in their study as the busiest periods. The difference in these studies could be explained by the fact that most families in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have to wait for their men to return from work in the afternoon in order to take their children to a hospital.…”

“…Friday was also found to be the busiest day in other studies from the Middle East. 3,8 Reports from Western countries 13 have found Saturday to be the busiest. Wednesday was the least busy day in our study.…”

“…An after-hours walk-in clinic attached to the ER was found to be useful for such cases by Weitzman et al 8 Male cases outnumbered females (ratio 1.4:1), as has been observed in other studies. 3,9,10 Children under one year of age constituted 24.3%. This is similar to figures reported by Bergman et al 11 and Wingert et al 12 However, the majority of cases were between one and five years (46%).…”