TITLE:
Cases of Brought in Dead Patients in the Accident and Emergency Unit of a Referral Hospital in the Western Region of Ghana
AUTHORS:
Verner N. Orish, Joseph Y. Ansong, Isaac B. Anagi, Onyekachi S. Onyeabor, Chuku Okorie, Adekunle O. Sanyaolu, Nnaemeka C. Iriemenam
KEYWORDS:
Ghana, Brought in Dead, Health Seeking Behavior
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.1 No.9,
December
31,
2014
ABSTRACT: The objective of this study was to evaluate cases of brought in dead
(BID) patients in the accident and emergency unit of Effia-Nkwanta Regional
Hospital through a retrospective study of a period
of 3 years. A retrospective descriptive
study of BID cases from the death register and patients’ records of the accident and emergency unit of the
hospital was carried out from January 2011 to December 2013. 31% (180/574) of BID cases were recorded over the study
period with the age range from below 1 year to over 70 years. They were
58.5% male and 41.5% female with a ratio of 1.4:1.
The majority of the BID cases (20.7%) were patients above 70 years and most
cases (40.8%) have no known
clinical condition associated with the death. The majority of the unexplained
deaths were highest among young adults between the ages 30 and 40 years
(22.6%). The highest cases of BID (20%) were
seen in the month of December and majority of the cases (72.5%) lived within
the metropolis. This study showed a concerning trend of BID cases in the
hospital with a high prevalence among the elderly and unexplained death among
the young adults. Hence there is an urgent need to upgrade hospitals in the
area with the hope of relieving the burden off Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital
and also a need to increase health promotion strategies among the people of the
area so as to instill health seeking behavior in order to prevent avoidable
deaths.