Profile of Accident Cases Attending the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Nigeria
Description
Background: Accidents have probably happened since the first caveman lit the first fire. This study profiled accidents cases handled at the Accident and Emergency Department (AED) of University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH), Nigeria from 1st January, 2013 to 31st December, 2017. Materials and Methods: Sequel to obtaining Ethical Clearance, data were extracted from the AED patients' register by systematic sampling. Results: Socio-demographics showed 68.8% of accident victims were male and 31.2% female just as most (31.4%) were within the 21-30-year age bracket. Also, most accidents occurred in January (12.3%), April (12.6%) and December (9.6%) - mainly festive periods in especially the Southern part of the country. Road Traffic Accidents topped the list at 67.9% just as head injury occurred more frequently than multiple body region injury. Conclusion: Road Traffic Accidents remain the leading cause of presentation of accident victims to the A & E of UPTH and involved the youth and energetic work force with festive periods accounting for sudden rises, it recommended that more road health and safety education be carried by all concerned parties especially the Government while also increasing monitoring and enforcement of traffic rules on our roads. The register of AED` in the UPTH and Nigerian hospitals in general needs to be upgraded to the use of computer software to build a database for easy accessibility and better preservation of records