Abstract
INTRODUCTION: At the core of the district health system is the emergency centre, for many the entry point into the healthcare system. Limited data is available on the patient population served by district-level emergency centres in South Africa. The objective of this study is to describe the case mix of adult patients managed in the resuscitation unit of a district-level hospital in the Western Cape. METHODS: A six-month prospective observational study was conducted in the resuscitation unit of Khayelitsha Hospital. Data were collected by clinicians in the unit by means of a Smartphone application on their own devices. Variables collected included patient demographics, patient acuity, patient comorbidities, diagnosis made in the unit, interventions received, length of stay, and disposition. Summary statistics were used to describe all variables. RESULTS: A total of 2324 patient admissions were analysed. The mean age was 36.9 years with a male predominance (n = 1367, 58.8%). Most patients were triaged into high-acuity categories (n = 1626, 70%). HIV infection was the most common comorbidity (n = 530, 22.8%). Acute medical (n = 1181, 50.8%) and trauma-related patients (n = 928, 39.9%) dominated the cohort. The median length of stay was 195 min and 502 (21.6%) patients were transferred to higher levels of care. There were 74 (3.2%) deaths. CONCLUSION: This study yields novel epidemiological data of emergency care in a district-level emergency centre. It highlights the burden of trauma and acute medical emergencies at the district level and can be used as a foundation for further research to provide targeted and effective healthcare to all citizens.