Reasons for Referral of Children aged 0 to 15 years to the Multipurpose Emergency Department of the Mali Hospital

Abstract

Introduction: A child is defined as “any human being under the age of 18, unless majority is reached earlier due to the legislation applicable to them. In reality, initial care is also found in multipurpose or adult emergency departments. In France (Seine-Saint-Denis), out of 390 children rescued by the Emergency Medical Assistance Service (SAMU) in 2004, 77% of child deaths were medicalized by the Regional Emergency Medical Service (SMUR). all-rounders of the department. As a result, at the hospital in Mali, many children are referred to the emergency department, while there is no pediatrician in the SAU and the technical platform is not well suited to their care,hence the objective of this work.. Methods and Materials: We conducted a prospective, longitudinal study over a period of 12 months from January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2019 at the emergency department of the hospital in Mali. The study involved patients aged zero (0) to fifteen (15) years The parameters studied were socio- demographic and clinical variables Results: During the study period, we collected 458 children aged 0 to 15 out of 6517 visits to the service, i.e. a frequency of 8.12%. The age group of 10 to 15 years was the most representative with 39% of cases. The male sex represented 58% of cases with a sex ratio of 1.36. The patients were uneducated in 10% of the cases, the workers represented 28.8% among the fathers and 54.8% of the mothers were housewives. Children belonging to families with more than three children accounted for 50.9% of cases and 39.5% of patients lived outside Bamako, the capital. Our study shows that 53.9% of patients were admitted between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., 54.8% of patients came to the service by taxi, vehicle or motorbike and admissions by referral/evacuation represented 60.3% of case. AVP accounted for 48.7% of cases After the initial examination on admission, 36% of patients were classified as category three according to the Clinical Classification of Emergency Patients (CCMU3). Conclusion: The grounds for recourse of children from 0 to 15 years old to the general-purpose SAU of the Hospital of Mali are multiple. Accidents remain the most frequent reason for recourse in the service.