ABSTRACT
Current South African Road Accident Fund (RAF) legislation requires a medical determination of the seriousness of injuries sustained in motor vehicle accidents to determine whether the claimant is entitled to a claim for general damages. Such medical assessments are submitted in the form of RAF 4 Serious Injury Assessment Reports. Contested claims for serious injury are referred to the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) Appeal Tribunals for final determination. The legislation prescribes 2 instruments, namely the American Medical Association (AMA) Guides (6th edition) and the Narrative Test for this purpose. Whereas the AMA Guides are published in a comprehensive book, and training courses are provided in their use, existing legislation does not provide any indication of the required structure, content or criteria of a Narrative Test report. This document is published by the HPCSA Appeal Tribunals as a guideline to the performance of the Narrative Test; what it is, reasons for applying it and who should compile it, as well as the required structure, content and criteria thereof. A Narrative Test Report should include relevant and meaningful comment in relation to each of the 6 sections described in the article.
Subject(s)
Accidents, Traffic/prevention & control , Guidelines as Topic , Wounds and Injuries/epidemiology , Accidents, Traffic/statistics & numerical data , Humans , Incidence , South Africa/epidemiology , Trauma Severity Indices , Wounds and Injuries/diagnosisABSTRACT
Hospital admissions for acute stroke were monitored over a twelve month period. Only patients age 20 and over were studied. Out of a population at risk of 114931 there were 116 cases, giving an overall incidence of 1.01 admissions per 1000 population per year over age 20. Cerebral hemorrhages were present in 32.8%, large artery thromboses in 31.9%, cerebral embolism in 13.8% and lacunar infarctions in 20.7% of cases. Atrial fibrillation was the presumed cause of cerebral embolism in 6.9% of patients. Hypertension was present in 69.8% of patients. Further studies are needed to establish the characteristics of stroke in the Third World.
Subject(s)
Black People , Cerebrovascular Disorders/epidemiology , Adult , Aged , Cerebrovascular Disorders/diagnosis , Cerebrovascular Disorders/mortality , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Risk , South Africa , Urban HealthABSTRACT
There may be an increasing incidence of multiple sclerosis in South Africa. All newly-diagnosed white Afrikaans-speaking patients from the Pretoria area were examined over a 12-month period and 5 new cases were diagnosed. This is a highly significant rise over the expected 0,2/100 000/year (P less than 0,001).
