Evaluation of Waiting Times for Patients at the Surgical Emergency Reception Service of the Regional Hospital Center (RHC) of Maradi

Author(s): Boukari BM, Maikassoua M, Magagi A, Abdoulaye MB, Adakal O,Hassane ML, Zakari MS, Rabiu MB

Abstract

Introduction
The study of patient management times is one of the essential parameters for evaluating the quality of care in the emergency department. The aim of this work is to assess the time taken to take charge of patients admitted to the medical emergency rooms of the RHC of Maradi.

Methodology
This was a prospective three-month study including all patients admitted to the surgical emergency department of the Maradi RHC and who participated in the survey.

Results
A total of 328 patients were included in our study out of 439 admissions. The mean age of the patients was 25.2 years with extremes ranging from 1 day to 87 years. The sex ratio was 1.8. The majority of patients were referred from other health structures in the region. Abdominal pain was the most frequent reason for consultation with a rate of 70.12% followed by road accidents with a frequency of 11.58%. The average time for a patient to be in contact with a health worker was 2.41 minutes and extremes ranged from 0 to 15 minutes. The doctor's wait was 10.42 min. extremes ranged from 0 to 480 min. Patients were seen by a doctor within the first 15 minutes (74.7%). At the same time, 205 patients were being treated. An average recovery time of 13.2 minutes was found. The results of the additional examinations prescribed by the doctors were obtained within 167 minutes. The length of stay in the emergency room was 5 days on average with extremes ranging from 6 hours to 15 days.

Conclusion
This study demonstrated satisfactory waiting period. However, improving the technical platform and sufficient staff would make it possible to shorten it and thus improve the care of our patients.