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Weaknesses and Capacities Affecting the Prehospital Emergency Care for Victims of Road Traffic Incidents in the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area: A Cross-Sectional Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 May 2019

Joseph Kimuli Balikuddembe ,
Ali Ardalan ,
Davoud Khorasani-Zavareh ,
Amir Nejati  and
Owais Raza
Joseph Kimuli Balikuddembe
Affiliation:
Institute For Disaster Management And Reconstruction, Sichuan University, China, And Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Chengdu, China East African Center for Disaster Health and Humanitarian Research, Kampala, Uganda
Ali Ardalan
Affiliation:
Institute For Disaster Management And Reconstruction, Sichuan University, China, And Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Chengdu, China Department of Disaster Public Health, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; National Institute of Health Research, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, Iran Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA
Davoud Khorasani-Zavareh
Affiliation:
Safety Promotion and Injury Prevention Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Department of Clinical Science and Education, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
Amir Nejati
Affiliation:
Institute For Disaster Management And Reconstruction, Sichuan University, China, And Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Chengdu, China
Owais Raza
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
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Abstract

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Introduction:

Prehospital emergency care is a vital and integral component of health systems, particularly in resource-constrained countries like Uganda. It can help to minimize deaths, injuries, morbidities, disabilities, and trauma caused by road traffic incidents (RTIs). This study identifies the weaknesses and capacities affecting the prehospital emergency care for the victims of RTIs in the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area (GKMA).

Methods:

A cross-sectional study was conducted in the GKMA using a three-part structured questionnaire. Data related to the demographics, nature of RTIs and victims’ pre-hospital experience and existing Emergency Medical Services (EMS) were collected from victims and EMS specialists in 3 hospitals and 5 EMS institutions, respectively. Data were descriptively analyzed, and a principal component analysis was employed to identify the most influential weaknesses and capacities affecting the prehospital emergency care for the victims of RTI in the GKMA.

Results:

From 459 RTI victims (74.7% males and 25.3% females) and 23 EMS specialists (91.3% males and 8.7% females) who participated in the study between May and June 20164. key weaknesses and 5 key capacities were identified to affect the prehospital emergency care for RTI victims in the GKMA. Although some strengths exist, (e.g., ambulance facilitation, EMS structuring, and coordination), the key weaknesses affecting the pre-hospital care for victims were noted to relate to the absence of predefined EMS systems, particularly in the GKMA and Uganda as a whole. They were identified to involve poor quality first aid treatment, insufficient skills/training of the first responders, inadequate EMS resources, and avoidable delays to respond and transport RTI victims to medical facilities.

Discussion:

Though some strengths exist, the weaknesses affecting prehospital care for RTI victims primarily emanate from the absence of predefined and well-organized EMS systems in the GKMA and Uganda as a whole.

Type
Poster Presentations
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 34 , Issue s1: Abstracts of Poster-Presentations-WADEM Congress on Disaster and Emergency Medicine 2019 , May 2019 , pp. s177
Copyright
© World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 2019