Operational demands on pre-hospital emergency care for burn injuries in a middle-income setting : a study in the Western Cape, South Africa
| dc.contributor.author | Allgaier, Rachel L. | en_ZA |
| dc.contributor.author | Laflamme, Lucie | en_ZA |
| dc.contributor.author | Wallis, Lee A. | en_ZA |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2017-03-15T10:37:30Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2017-03-15T10:37:30Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2017-01 | |
| dc.description | CITATION: Allgaier, R. L., Laflamme, L. & Wallis, L. A. 2017. Operational demands on pre-hospital emergency care for burn injuries in a middle-income setting: a study in the Western Cape, South Africa. International Journal of Emergency Medicine, 10(2):1-7, doi:10.1186/s12245-017-0128-9. | |
| dc.description | The original publication is available at http://intjem.springeropen.com | |
| dc.description | Publication of this article was funded by the Stellenbosch University Open Access Fund. | |
| dc.description.abstract | ENGLISH SUMMARY : Background: Burns occur disproportionately within low-socioeconomic populations. The Western Cape Province of South Africa represents a middle-income setting with a high rate of burns, few specialists and few burn centres, yet a well-developed pre-hospital system. This paper describes the burn cases from a viewpoint of operational factors important to pre-hospital emergency medical services. Methods: A retrospective, cross-sectional study of administrative and patient records was conducted. Data were captured for all pre-hospital burn patients treated by public Emergency Medical Services over a continuous 12-month period. Data were captured separately at each site using a standardised data collection tool. Described categories included location (rural or urban), transport decision (transported or remained on scene), age (child or adult) and urgency (triage colour). Results: EMS treated 1198 patients with confirmed burns representing 0.6% of the total EMS caseload; an additional 819 potential burn cases could not be confirmed. Of the confirmed cases, 625 (52.2%) were located outside the City of Cape Town and 1058 (88.3%) were transported to a medical facility. Patients from urban areas had longer mission times. Children accounted for 37.5% (n = 449) of all burns. The majority of transported patients that were triaged were yellow (n = 238, 41.6% rural and n = 182, 37.4% urban). Conclusions: Burns make up a small portion of the EMS caseload. More burns occurred in areas far from urban hospitals and burn centres. The majority of burn cases met the burn centre referral criteria. | en_ZA |
| dc.description.uri | http://intjem.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s12245-017-0128-9 | |
| dc.description.version | Publisher’s version | |
| dc.format.extent | 7 pages | |
| dc.identifier.citation | Allgaier, R. L., Laflamme, L. & Wallis, L. A. 2017. Operational demands on pre-hospital emergency care for burn injuries in a middle-income setting: a study in the Western Cape, South Africa. International Journal of Emergency Medicine, 10(2):1-7, doi:10.1186/s12245-017-0128-9. | |
| dc.identifier.issn | 1865-1380 (online) | |
| dc.identifier.issn | 1865-1372 (print) | |
| dc.identifier.other | doi:10.1186/s12245-017-0128-9 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/100681 | |
| dc.language.iso | en_ZA | en_ZA |
| dc.publisher | SpringerOpen | |
| dc.rights.holder | Authors retain copyright | |
| dc.subject | Emergency medical services | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Medical care -- Western Cape (South Africa) | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Burns and scalds | en_ZA |
| dc.title | Operational demands on pre-hospital emergency care for burn injuries in a middle-income setting : a study in the Western Cape, South Africa | en_ZA |
| dc.type | Article | en_ZA |