Surgical morbidity and mortality pattern in the accident and emergency room—a preliminary report

Abstract

Background and Purpose: A prospective review of surgical patients attending the Accident and Emergency room was carried out to determine the pattern of morbidity and mortality in order to guide planning a n d provision of surgical service s and improv e o n t h e quality of care available Methods Patients were entered into a data sheet from September 1999 a preliminary report of the first six months is presented! Results: There were 1,209 patents (850 males and 359 females, M: F - 2.2:1) with 46 different presentations. Age range was 2-weeks to 95 years. The mode and median age were in the third decade. Morbidity from trauma was 70.5%, 44.5 % from Road Traffic Accident while mortality from trauma was 2.6 % (32 patients). Nearly half of the mortality (47.2 %) was head injury related. Conclusion: The commonest presentation w a s laceration s (19. 4 %) from which there was no mortality while head injury, multiple injury and multiple fractures that accounted for 14.7% morbidity had 61.1 % mortality. These figures are helpful in planning services delivery and in focusing and improving on the mortality prone presentations.