Critical illness at the emergency department of a Tanzanian national hospital in a three-year period 2019-2021.

BACKGROUND: Critically ill patients have life-threatening conditions requiring immediate vital organ function intervention. But, critical illness in the emergency department (ED) has not been comprehensively described in resource-limited settings. Understanding the characteristics and dynamics of critical illness can help hospitals prepare for and ensure the continuum of care for critically ill patients. This study aimed to describe the pattern and outcomes of critically ill patients at the ED of the National Hospital in Tanzania from 2019 to 2021. METHODOLOGY: This hospital-records-based retrospective cohort study analyzed records of all patients who attended the ED of Muhimbili National Hospital between January 2019 and December 2021. Data extracted from the ED electronic database included clinical and demographic information, diagnoses, and outcome status at the ED. Critical illness in this study was defined as either a severe derangement of one or more vital signs measured at triage or the provision of critical care intervention. Data were analyzed using Stata 17 to examine critical illnesses' burden, characteristics, first-listed diagnosis, and outcomes at the ED. RESULTS: Among the 158,445 patients who visited the ED in the study period, 16,893 (10.7%) were critically ill. The burden of critical illness was 6,346 (10.3%) in 2019, 5,148 (10.9%) in 2020, and 5,400 (11.0%) in 2021. Respiratory (18.8%), cardiovascular (12.6%), infectious diseases (10.2%), and trauma (10.2%) were the leading causes of critical illness. Most (81.6%) of the critically ill patients presenting at the ED were admitted or transferred, of which 11% were admitted to the ICUs and 89% to general wards. Of the critically ill, 4.8% died at the ED. CONCLUSION: More than one in ten patients attending the Tanzanian National Hospital emergency department was critically ill. The number of critically ill patients did not increase during the pandemic. The majority were admitted to general hospital wards, and about one in twenty died at the ED. This study highlights the burden of critical illness faced by hospitals and the need to ensure the availability and quality of emergency and critical care throughout hospitals.

Profile and outcomes of patients with acute complications of malaria presenting to an urban emergency department of a tertiary hospital in Tanzania.

OBJECTIVES: In Tanzania, malaria ranks number three among the top ten causes of deaths in all age groups, however little is known about the utilisation of emergency department by patients with complications of malaria. We describe clinical presentation, resource utilization, and outcomes of acutely ill patients with complications of malaria presenting to an urban emergency department (ED) in Tanzania. RESULTS: We screened 405 patients which physicians had a clinical suspicion or diagnosis of malaria at ED. We enrolled 184 (45.5%) patients meeting WHO clinical and laboratory definition of malaria. The median age was 22 years (interquartile range 22-33 years), 105 (57%) were male, and overall 124 (67.4%) were self-referral. The use of insecticide treated nets (ITNs) in this group was 125 (67.4%). Fever 125 (67.9%), headache 56 (30.4%) and general body malaise 41 (22.2%) were the top three frequent complains, while tachycardia 83 (42.9%) was the most frequent abnormal vital sign. Overall, 21 (11.4%) patients had severe anaemia and 21 (11.4%) had abnormal renal function test. In ED 121/184 (65.8%) patients received antimalarial, 74/184 (40.2%) received antibiotics, 6/184 (3.3%) received antipyretic/analgesic and 5/20 (25%) patients with severe anaemia received blood transfusion. Overall, 99/184 (53.8%) patients were hospitalized, 3 (1.6%) died at the ED, and the overall hospital morality was 3.8%. Overall we found a substantial burden of patients with complications of malaria presenting in the largest public ED in Tanzania.