Background: Mortality and morbidity due to trauma are a significant public health
challenge. There is paucity of data on the waiting times and length of stay
(LOS) of trauma patients in emergency departments in Botswana. The aim of this
study was to determine the Emergency Department (ED) waiting times and LOS of
trauma patients at Princess Marina Hospital in Gaborone, Botswana. Methods: This
was a retrospective medical records review of waiting times (time from triage
to review by ED medical officer) and LOS (time from triage to disposition from
the emergency department). The waiting times for the different assigned
acuities were assessed against the South African Triage System (SATS)
standards. All trauma patients seen from 19/11/2018 to 18/12/2018 were included
in the study. Prolonged length of stay was defined as duration > 6 hours.
Categorical data was summarized with frequencies while numeric data was
summarized with medians and interquartile ranges. Results: A total of
187 trauma patients’ files were analyzed. Of these, 72 (38.5%) were females.
The median waiting time was 3.8 hours and the maximum was 19.2 hours. The
median length of stay (LOS) was 8.8 hours with a maximum of 37.2 hours. Only 53
(28.3%) of the participants had a LOS of less than 6 hours. None of the
emergent patients were seen immediately. Only 5 (4.0%) of the very urgent
patients were seen within the target of 10 minutes. Finally, only 10 (20.4%) of
urgent patients were seen within the target time of 1 hour. Conclusion: The waiting times and length of stay in Princess Marina Hospital were mostly
above the recommended standards. Urgent interventions are needed to reduce
waiting times and length of stay for trauma patients. More studies are needed
to explore the sources of delay and investigate possible solutions to this
public health challenge.
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