Abstract:
Road traffic accidents (RTA) and injuries have been a major public health problem
worldwide, with about 1.2 million people dying each year in road crashes and up to 50
million being injured. This was a cross-sectional study carried out to determine the
characteristics and injury risk factors of non-fatal injuries among RTA casualties at the
Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) accident and emergency department. The study
involved 354 casualties between November to December 2008. Structured
questionnaires and clinical assessment sheets were used to collect data, which was
analysed using SPSS version 11.5 and the R-console epidemiological programme. The
results showed that majority of the casualties [234 (66.1%)] were aged between 18 and
37 years and only 27 (7.6%) of them were aged below 18 years. Over 70% of them
were males. In terms of injury severity, most of the casualties had moderate injuries.
Among the injuries, wounds/cuts were the majority. Other injuries included fractures,
internal organ injuries and dislocations. The injury risk factors identified included age,
sex, education, occupation, time and day of accident occurrence, administration of First
Aid at the scene of accident, casualty transportation and rescue time, and type of the
casualty involved in the RTA. Other injury risk factors included type of vehicle, use of
safety belt, casualty condition at time of accident, type and cause of the accident. The
study results showed that most of the RTAs occurred on Saturdays and Sundays. It is
recommended that, out of all the surgical materials ordered for the accident and
emergency department, about 7.9% of them should be small size, with the rest being
large sizes. These items should include splints for fractures, dressing materials, sutures,
plaster of Paris, branulae and needles among others. Supplies for resuscitation should
also be availed to include drugs needed for maintenance of normal haemodynamics.
There is also need to have enough stocks of intravenous fluids. Measurements for
alcohol levels should be undertaken for all the RTA casualties who are suspected to be
alcoholic. Surgeons of various specialties should be on stand by when need arises. It
also calls for the department to have an exclusively dedicated trauma theatre, which
should always be ready to deal with RTA casualties when need arises.
