Biomaterial Database

An experience with surgical admissions to a paediatric ICU (PICU) in Harare, Zimbabwe. 2004

I E Pazvakavambwa

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, University of Zimbabwe College of Health Sciences, Avondale, Harare.

OBJECTIVE To find out if the status of a patient on arrival in the intensive care unit had any bearing on the immediate ICU outcome and if there are any correctable factors. METHODS A retrospective survey. METHODS Paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) at Parirenyatwa Hospital in Harare, Zimbabwe between January 1997 and December 1998. METHODS 147 emergency surgical admissions. RESULTS There were 147 surgical patients admitted to the PICU during the period of whom 77 were male and 43 were emergency surgical procedures. All patients were coming from the operating theatres (OT). Factors associated with a poor ICU outcome were emergency surgical admission (p<0.001), hypothermia on arrival in the PICU (p<0.001) and requirement for ventilation (p<0.001). On multivariate analysis only the first two were associated with a poor ICU outcome. CONCLUSIONS Some simple measures could be undertaken to improve immediate ICU outcome in surgical patients in a resource limited environment, such as improving the ambient temperature in OT during surgery and standardising transportation to PICU.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007223	Infant	A child between 1 and 23 months of age.	Infants
D007231	Infant, Newborn	An infant during the first 28 days after birth.	Neonate,Newborns,Infants, Newborn,Neonates,Newborn,Newborn Infant,Newborn Infants
D008297	Male		Males
D010343	Patient Admission	The process of accepting patients. The concept includes patients accepted for medical and nursing care in a hospital or other health care institution.	Voluntary Admission,Admission, Patient,Admission, Voluntary,Admissions, Patient,Admissions, Voluntary,Patient Admissions,Voluntary Admissions
D002648	Child	A person 6 to 12 years of age. An individual 2 to 5 years old is CHILD, PRESCHOOL.	Children
D002675	Child, Preschool	A child between the ages of 2 and 5.	Children, Preschool,Preschool Child,Preschool Children
D005260	Female		Females
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000293	Adolescent	A person 13 to 18 years of age.	Adolescence,Youth,Adolescents,Adolescents, Female,Adolescents, Male,Teenagers,Teens,Adolescent, Female,Adolescent, Male,Female Adolescent,Female Adolescents,Male Adolescent,Male Adolescents,Teen,Teenager,Youths
D012189	Retrospective Studies	Studies used to test etiologic hypotheses in which inferences about an exposure to putative causal factors are derived from data relating to characteristics of persons under study or to events or experiences in their past. The essential feature is that some of the persons under study have the disease or outcome of interest and their characteristics are compared with those of unaffected persons.	Retrospective Study,Studies, Retrospective,Study, Retrospective