Emergency and critical care services in Tanzania: a survey of ten hospitals

Baker, Tim; Lugazia, Edwin; Eriksen, Jaran; Mwafongo, Victor; Irestedt, Lars; Konrad, David

doi:10.1186/1472-6963-13-140

BMC Health Services Research

Table 3 Percentage availability of resources for emergency and critical care

From: Emergency and critical care services in Tanzania: a survey of ten hospitals

Resource			All hospitals	District/regional hospitals	Referral/private hospitals
			n = 10	n = 7	n = 3
			%	%	%
1	Infra-structure	Triage area for adults	30	0	100
2		Emergency/Resus Room or Area for adults	60	43	100
3		ICU or Area on a general ward for critically ill adults	50	29	100
4		Triage area for children	30*	43	100*
5		Emergency Room/Area for children	50	29	100
6		Paediatric ICU/area for critically ill children	90	86	100
7	Human Resources	Nurse always in the ER	100*	100*	100
8		Clinician always in the ER or on-call for ER	100*	100*	100
9		Designated Medical Head of ICU	-	-	100
10		There is a higher ratio of staff: patients on ICU than in any other ward	-	-	100
11	Training	Any staff trained in adult triage	20	29	0
12		Any staff formally trained in Emergency care of adults	40	29	67
13		Any staff formally trained in Critical Care for adults	20	0	67
14		Any staff trained in paediatric triage	40	43	33
15		Any staff formally trained in Emergency care of children	60	57	67
16		Any staff formally trained in Critical Care for children	80	71	100
17	Drugs	IV glucose	100*	100*	100
18		IV crystalloid	100*	100*	100
19		Diazepam	100*	100*	100
20		Paracetamol	100**	100**	100
21		IV penicillin	100	100	100
22		IV Gentamycin	100	100	100
23		IV Quinine	100**	100**	100
24		Adrenaline	100**	100**	100
25		Atropine	88*	83*	100
26		Salbutamol (for inhaler or nebuliser)	66*	50*	100
27		IV/IM opioid	100	100	100
28		Frusemide	100*	100*	100
29		Aminophylline	88*	83*	100
30		Insulin	70	57	100
31		Hydrocortisone	100	100	100
32	Equipment	Blood Pressure cuff	100	100	100
33		Stethoscope	100	100	100
34		IV cannulae	100	100	100
35		Bedside blood sugar strips/glucometer	70	71	67
36		Weighing scales	55*	57	50*
37		Suction	100*	100*	100
38		Gloves - clean	100	100	100
39		Thermometer	100*	100	100*
40		Urine Catheter	100	100	100
41		Oral Airway (Guedel)	60	43	100
42		Pulse oximeter	70	57	100
43		Naso-gastric Tubes	100	100	100
44		Oxygen concentrator/cylinder with face masks or nasal prongs and tubing	90	86	100
45		Electricity 24 hours/day	50	29	100
46		Running Water & soap	100	100	100
47	Routines	Formal system for categorising new adult patients according to urgency	40	14	100
48		Formal system for prioritising critically ill adults	44*	16*	100
49		Registration/Payment delayed until after triage & emergency treatment of critically ill adults	85***	80**	100*
50		Nurses do more frequent observations on critically ill adults	83****	66****	100
51		Ward rounds are done for critically ill adults at least twice a day	30	0	100
52		Formal system for categorising new paediatric patients according to urgency	57***	50*	100**
53		Formal system for prioritising critically ill children	-	50*	-
54		Registration/Payment delayed until after triage & emergency treatment of critically ill children	-	100****	-
55		Nurses do more frequent observations on critically ill children	77*	66*	100
56		Ward rounds are done for critically ill children at least twice a day	33*	0*	100
57		ICU admission criteria	-	-	50*
58		“Track and trigger” system on the wards for finding and referring critically ill patients to the ICU	-	-	0*
59	Guidelines	Triage Guidelines for adults	13**	0**	33
60		Guidelines for resuscitation/emergency care of adults	14***	0**	50*
61		Guidelines for managing seriously ill adults	20*****	0****	50*
62		Triage Guidelines for children	-	25***	-
63		Resuscitation Guidelines for children	-	25***	-
64		Guidelines for managing seriously ill children	-	33*	-
65		Guidelines for oxygen use	14***	25***	0
66	Support Services	Lab with facilities to measure Haemoglobin	100	100	100
67		Lab with facilities to measure Blood Glucose	100	100	100
68		Lab with facilities to measure Serum Urea/Creatinine, Sodium and Potassium	90	86	100
69		Chest X-ray facilities	100	100	100
70		System for emergency Blood Transfusion	100	100	100
71		System for making cross-matched blood available within one hour	80	86	67
72		System for testing donor blood for the viruses HIV, Hepatitis B & C	100***	100**	100*
73		Lab with facilities for microscopy & Bacterial Gram stain	100	100	100
74		Lab with facilities for bacterial culture and antibiotic sensitivities	80	71	100

Data given as a percentage of the hospitals where each resource was available.
* missing data is shown with one asterix (*) per missing hospital. Where data is missing for all hospitals in a section a dash is shown (-).
ER Emergency Room; ICU Intensive Care Unit; IV Intravenous; IM Intramuscular.

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ISSN: 1472-6963

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