Prevention is a core value of any health system. Nonetheless, many health problems will continue to occur despite preventive services. A significant burden of diseases in developing countries is caused by time-sensitive illnesses and injuries, such as severe infections, hypoxia caused by respiratory infections, dehydration caused by diarrhoea, intentional and unintentional injuries, postpartum bleeding, and acute myocardial infarction. The provision of timely treatment during life-threatening emergencies is not a priority for many health systems in developing countries. This paper reviews evidence indicating the need to develop and/or strengthen emergency medical care systems in these countries. An argument is made for the role of emergency medical care in improving the health of populations and meeting expectations for access to emergency care. We consider emergency medical care in the community, during transportation, and at first-contact and regional referral facilities. Obstacles to developing effective emergency medical care include a lack of structural models, inappropriate training foci, concerns about cost, and sustainability in the face of a high demand for services. A basic but effective level of emergency medical care responds to perceived and actual community needs and improves the health of populations.

https://www.who.int/bulletin/archives/80(11)900.pdf

Emergency medical care in developing countries: is it worthwhile?

https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(00)03542-X.pdf

Quality of hospital care for seriously ill children in less-developed countries

Background: With strict adherence to international recommended treatment guidelines, the case fatality for severe malnutrition ought to be less than 5%. In African hospitals, fatality rates of 20% are common and are often attributed to poor training and faulty case management. Improving outcome will depend upon the identification of those at greatest risk and targeting limited health resources. We retrospectively examined the major risk factors associated with early (<48 h) and late in-hospital death in children with severe malnutrition with the aim of identifying admission features that could distinguish a high-risk group in relation to the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines.
Methods and findings: Of 920 children in the study, 176 (19%) died, with 59 (33%) deaths occurring within 48 h of admission. Bacteraemia complicated 27% of all deaths: 52% died before 48 h despite 85% in vitro antibiotic susceptibility of cultured organisms. The sensitivity, specificity, and likelihood ratio of the WHO-recommended “danger signs” (lethargy, hypothermia, or hypoglycaemia) to predict early mortality was 52%, 84%, and 3.4% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.2 to 5.1), respectively. In addition, four bedside features were associated with early case fatality: bradycardia, capillary refill time greater than 2 s, weak pulse volume, and impaired consciousness level; the presence of two or more features was associated with an odds ratio of 9.6 (95% CI = 4.8 to 19) for early fatality (p < 0.0001). Conversely, the group of children without any of these seven features, or signs of dehydration, severe acidosis, or electrolyte derangements, had a low fatality (7%).
Conclusions: Formal assessment of these features as emergency signs to improve triage and to rationalize manpower resources toward the high-risk groups is required. In addition, basic clinical research is necessary to identify and test appropriate supportive treatments.

/pdf/children-with-severe-malnutrition-can-those-at-highest-risk-5995grawz8.pdf

Children with severe malnutrition: can those at highest risk of death be identified with the WHO protocol?

During septic shock management, the evaluation of microvascular perfusion by skin analysis is of interest. We aimed to study the skin capillary refill time (CRT) in a selected septic shock population. We conducted a prospective observational study in a tertiary teaching hospital. After a preliminary study to calculate CRT reproducibility, all consecutive patients with septic shock during a 10-month period were included. After initial resuscitation at 6 h (H6), we recorded hemodynamic parameters and analyzed their predictive value on 14-day mortality. CRT was measured on the index finger tip and on the knee area. CRT was highly reproducible with an excellent inter-rater concordance calculated at 80 % [73–86] for index CRT and 95 % [93–98] for knee CRT. A total of 59 patients were included, SOFA score was 10 [7–14], SAPS II was 61 [50–78] and 14-day mortality rate was 36 %. CRT measured at both sites was significantly higher in non-survivors compared to survivors (respectively 5.6 ± 3.5 vs 2.3 ± 1.8 s, P < 0.0001 for index CRT and 7.6 ± 4.6 vs 2.9 ± 1.7 s, P < 0.0001 for knee CRT). The CRT at H6 was strongly predictive of 14-day mortality as the area under the curve was 84 % [75–94] for the index measurement and was 90 % [83–98] for the knee area. A threshold of index CRT at 2.4 s predicted 14-day outcome with a sensitivity of 82 % (95 % CI [60–95]) and a specificity of 73 % (95 % CI [56–86]). A threshold of knee CRT at 4.9 s predicted 14-day outcome with a sensitivity of 82 % (95 % CI [60–95]) and a specificity of 84 % (95 % CI [68–94]). CRT was significantly related to tissue perfusion parameters such as arterial lactate level and SOFA score. Finally, CRT changes during shock resuscitation were significantly associated with prognosis. CRT is a clinical reproducible parameter when measured on the index finger tip or the knee area. After initial resuscitation of septic shock, CRT is a strong predictive factor of 14-day mortality.

Capillary refill time exploration during septic shock

Critical care in low-income countries remains rudimentary. When defined as all aspects of care for patients with sudden, serious, reversible disease, critical care is not disease or age specific and includes triage and emergency medicine, hospital systems, quality of care and Intensive Care Units. This review collates the literature on critical care in low-income countries and explores how the care can be both feasible and effective. Emergency care including triage is often one of the weakest parts of the health system; but if well organized it can be life-saving and cost-effective. Emergency triage and treatment has been developed for paediatric admissions with promising results. Hospital systems do not currently prioritize the critically ill and few hospitals have Intensive Care Units. The quality of care given to inpatients on hospital wards is often poor and could be improved in many ways. There is a lack of training and awareness of the principles of critical care. Basic critical care concentrating on ABC - airway, breathing and circulation - need not be resource intensive. Oxygen is a cheap and effective treatment for pneumonia and other severe disease, but is not always available. Improved critical care could have a significant effect on the burden of disease and effects of ill health. Research into the most cost-effective treatments and methods of caring for critically ill patients is urgently needed.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1365-3156.2008.02202.x

Critical care in low-income countries.

Simplified guidelines for the emergency care of children have been developed to improve the triage and rapid initiation of appropriate emergency treatments for children presenting to hospitals in developing countries. The guidelines are part of the effort to improve referral level paediatric care within the World Health Organisation/Unicef strategy integrated management of childhood illness (IMCI), based on evidence of significant deficiencies in triage and emergency care. Existing emergency guidelines have been modified according to resource limitations and significant differences in the epidemiology of severe paediatric illness and preventable death in developing countries with raised infant and child mortality rates. In these settings, it is important to address the emergency management of diarrhoea with severe dehydration, severe malaria, severe malnutrition, and severe bacterial pneumonia, and to focus attention on sick infants younger than 2 months of age. The triage assessment relies on a few clinical signs, which can be readily taught so that it can be used by health workers with limited clinical background. The assessment has been designed so that it can be carried out quickly if negative, making it functional for triaging children in queues.

https://adc.bmj.com/content/archdischild/81/6/473.full.pdf

Patricia Whitesell

Papers

Development and technical basis of simplified guidelines for emergency triage assessment and treatment in developing countries