Browsing by Author "Maritz, David"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Aetiology and outcome of patients burned from 2003 to 2008 at the Tygerberg Hospital burns unit, Western Cape, SA
    (2013) Maritz, David
    Rural to urban migration to major cities in South Africa continues to lead to the proliferation of informal settlements. There is little recent published data on the epidemiology of adult burns in the Western Cape, South Africa. The prediction of outcome in severe burns is important to aid in clinical decision making, improve scarce resource allocation and allow comparisons between different burn units. Age, burn size and the presence of inhalational injury have been determined to be the most important factors in predicting mortality. There is little published data on the outcome of severe burns in the Southern African region. A retrospective review of patients on the Burn Unit database was undertaken, looking at patients admitted to the Burn Unit between January 2003 and December 2008. This study discusses the characteristics and outcome of patients who were treated at the Tygerberg Burn unit. A total of 1908 patients were admitted to the burn unit during the 6 year period under review. Most fatal injuries occurred in the 20 to 40 year age group. Injuries due to shack fires and fuel stoves comprised 21% (399) of all admissions. Mortality due to these injuries comprised 28% (137) of total mortality. Gas stoves accounted for 24% with kerosene stoves accounting for 71% of injuries. The burn death rate in this study (25%) was found to have increased dramatically from the last audit done from 1986 to 1995 in which a burn death rate of 7.5% was observed. Reasons for this are explored. A stepwise logistic regression analysis was done on the derivation cohort where age, gender, TBSA% and presence of inhalational injury were identified as significant for predicting death. A mortality prediction model is presented which was internally validated on the validation cohort. An easy to use EXCEL calculator was created to estimate the probability of death. Shack fires and injuries due to fuel stoves are a common reason for admission to the burn unit and mostly involve young male individuals. Other research from the Southern African region does not mention shack fires as a separate entity making it difficult to obtain an accurate idea of the scale of the problem. Their injuries are severe with a high mortality. The use of kerosene stoves are a major contributing factor. Recommendations include enforceable legislation to promote safer stove design, research into safer bio fuels and materials for building shacks as well promoting fire safety among schoolchildren in the community. Further research is needed to determine the impact of HIV/AIDS on the outcome of acute burn injuries within the Southern African region. Further interventions are needed to tackle this serious public health issue. A mortality prediction model is proposed for use in the burn unit, but needs external validation before being adopted into clinical practice. Further research is needed to improve data capturing in the burn unit.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Complications of tube thoracostomy for chest trauma
    (2009) Maritz, David; Wallis, Lee; Hardcastle, Timothy
    Objective. To determine the insertional and positional complications encountered by the placement of intercostal chest drains (ICDs) for trauma and whether further training is warranted in operators inserting intercostal chest drains outside level 1 trauma unit settings. Methods. Over a period of 3 months, all patients with or without an ICD in situ in the front room trauma bay of Tygerberg Hospital were included in the study. Patients admitted directly via the trauma resuscitation unit were excluded. No long-term infective complications were included. A self-reporting system recorded complications, and additional data were obtained by searching the department’s records and monthly statistics. Results. A total of 3 989 patients with trauma injuries were seen in the front room trauma bay during the study period; 273 (6.8%) patients with an ICD in situ or requiring an ICD were assessed in the trauma unit and admitted to the chest drain ward; 24 patients were identified with 26 complications relating to the insertion and positioning of the ICD; 22 (92%) of these had been referred with an ICD in situ. An overall complication rate of 9.5% was seen. Insertional complications numbered 7 (27%), with 19 (73%) positional complications. The most common errors were insertion at the incorrect anatomical site, and extrathoracic and too shallow placement (side portal of the drain lying outside the chest cavity). Conclusion. Operators at the referral hospitals have received insufficient training in the technique for insertion of ICDs for chest trauma and would benefit from more structured instruction and closer supervision of ICD insertion.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    A retrospective evaluation of the impact of a dedicated obstetric and neonatal transport service on transport times within an urban setting
    (Springer, 2011) De Vries, Shaheem; Wallis, Lee; Maritz, David
    OBJECTIVE:To determine whether the establishment of a dedicated obstetric and neonatal flying squad resulted in improved performance within the setting of a major metropolitan area.DESIGN AND SETTING:The Cape Town metropolitan service of the Emergency Medical Services was selected for a retrospective review of the transit times for the newly implemented Flying Squad programme. Data were imported from the Computer Aided Dispatch programme. Dispatch, Response, Mean Transit and Total Pre-hospital times relating to the obstetric and neonatal incidents was analysed for 2005 and 2008. RESULTS: There was a significant improvement between 2005 and 2008 in all incidents evaluated. Flying Squad dispatch performance improved from 11.7% to 46.6% of all incidents dispatched within 4 min (p < 0.0001). Response time performance at the 15-min threshold did not demonstrate a statistically significant improvement (p = 0.4), although the improvement in the 30-min performance category was statistically significant in both maternity and neonatal incidents. Maternity incidents displayed the greatest improvement with the 30-min performance increasing from 30.3% to 72.9%. The analysis of the mean transit times demonstrated that neonatal transfers displayed the longest status time in all but one of the categories. Even so, the introduction of the Flying Squad programme resulted in a reduction in a total pre-hospital time from 177 to 128 min. CONCLUSION: The introduction of the Flying Squad programme has resulted in significant improvement in the transit times of both neonatal and obstetric patients. In spite of the severe resource constraints facing developing nations, the model employed offers significant gains.