BMC research notes
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Burn injuries constitute a major public health problem and are the leading cause of childhood morbidity and mortality worldwide. There is paucity of published data on childhood burn injuries in Tanzania, particularly the study area. This study was conducted to describe the pattern of childhood burn injuries in our local setting and to evaluate their management outcome. ⋯ Childhood burn injuries still remain a menace in our environment with virtually unacceptable high morbidity and mortality. There is need for critical appraisal of the preventive measures and management principles currently being practiced.
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Difficult airway especially failed intubation has been associated with a high incidence of mortality and morbidity. Most of mortalities occur when an anaesthesiologist encounters an unanticipated difficult airway. ⋯ Evaluation of the submental space is suggested as an alternative predictor of difficult airway and routine examination of the submental space is of value in airway assessment.
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Dengue fever is one of the most common tropical diseases worldwide. Early detection of the disease, followed by intravenous fluid therapy in patients with dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) or with warning signs of dengue has a major impact on the prognosis. The purpose of this study is to describe the care provided in a hydration tent, including early detection, treatment, and serial follow-up of patients with dengue fever. ⋯ As the epidemics were already widespread and there were no technical conditions for routine serology, all cases of suspected dengue fever were treated as such. Implementing hydration tents decrease the number of dengue fever hospitalizations.
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To study late-life depression and its unfavourable course and co morbidities in The Netherlands. ⋯ The NESDO sample offers the opportunity to study the neurobiological, psychosocial and physical determinants of depression and its long-term course in older persons. Since largely similar measures were used as in the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety (NESDA; age range 18-65 years), data can be pooled thus creating a large longitudinal database of clinically depressed persons with adequate power and a large set of neurobiological, psychosocial and physical variables from both younger and older depressed persons.
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To carry out a time and motion study of patients presenting at the Emergency Department (ED) by measuring waiting times at the ED dept throughout the day. The objectives were:• to determine whether waiting times are prolonged, and• if prolonged, at which station(s) bottlenecks occur most often in terms of duration and frequency.Results will be compared to the United Kingdom guidelines of stay at the emergency department. ⋯ In conclusion, it was found that 30.3% of priority 1 patients, 86.3% of priority 2 patients and 76.8% of priority 3 patients waited more than 1 hour for first assessment. We conclude by proposing several changes that may expedite throughput.