Presentation and Intervention Time for Plastic Surgical Patients Presenting at the Trauma Unit, National Orthopaedic Hospital, Enugu.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Data regarding time of presentation and intervention for trauma care in Nigeria and our centre is limited. A prospective study of presentation and intervention times at the trauma unit for the plastic surgical division was undertaken between November and December 2002. A questionnaire was provided the 1st on call to fill prospectively. The doctor expected to intervene was not the one to fill in the forms. The questionnaires were collated and analyzed using SPSS9.0 software. Simple arithmetic analysis was used.
RESULTS: Most are victims of road traffic injury. Over 50% are 20-50yrs. Over 60% presented between 1 and 8 hrs of the incident; and intervention time was mostly 2-6hrs. Gunshot injuries occurred exclusively between 6pm –12midnight. Those that presented earlier i.e. during normal working hours had longer time to surgical intervention compared to those that present later.
CONCLUSION: The development of a dedicated trauma team is necessary to shorten intervention time.


Keywords: Trauma, presentation time

Nigerian Journal of Plastic Surgery Vol. 2 (2) 2006: pp. 6-10