Factors contributing to delay intensive care unit admission of critically ill patients from the adult emergency Department in Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital.

BACKGROUND: The transfer time for critically ill patients from the emergency department (ED) to the Intensive care unit (ICU) must be minimal; however, some factors prolong the transfer time, which may delay intensive care treatment and adversely affect the patient's outcome. PURPOSE: To identify factors affecting intensive care unit admission of critically ill patients from the emergency department. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study design was conducted from January 13 to April 12, 2020, at the emergency department of Tikur Anbesa Specialized Hospital. All critically ill patients who need intensive care unit admission during the study period were included in the study. A pretested structured questionnaire was adapted from similar studies. The data were collected by chart review and observation. Then checked data were entered into Epi-data version 4.1 and cleaned data was exported to SPSS Version 25 for analysis. Descriptive statistics, bivariate and multivariate logistic regression were used to analyze the data. RESULT: From the total of 102 critically ill patients who need ICU admission 84.3% of them had prolonged lengths of ED stay. The median length of ED stay was 13.5 h with an IQR of 7-25.5 h. The most common reasons for delayed ICU admission were shortage of ICU beds 56 (65.1%) and delays in radiological examination results 13(15.1%). On multivariate logistic regression p < 0.05 male gender (AOR = 0.175, 95% CI: (0.044, 0.693)) and shortage of ICU bed (AOR = 0.022, 95% CI: (0.002, 0.201)) were found to have a significant association with delayed intensive care unit admission. CONCLUSION: there was a delay in ICU admission of critically ill patients from the ED. Shortage of ICU bed and delay in radiological investigation results were the reasons for the prolonged ED stay.

Prevalence and Antimicrobial Sensitivity Patterns of Uropathogens, in Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital Emergency Medicine Department Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Background: Empirical treatment of infections remains a major contributing factor to the emergence of pathogens that are resistant to antibiotics. The study aimed to assess the prevalence and anti-microbial sensitivity patterns of uropathogens in the Emergency Medicine Department of Tikur Anbessa Hospital, Ethiopia. Methods: Urine sample data collected over two years from January 2015 to January 2016 at Tikur Anbessa Hospital's laboratory were retrospectively analyzed for bacterial pathogens, and their antimicrobial susceptibility. Antimicrobial sensitivity tests were done using the disc diffusion technique as per the standard of the Kirby-Bauer method. Results: Of the total 220 samples that were collected, 50 (22.7%) were culture-positive. Male to female data ratio was 1:1.1. Escherichia coli was the dominant isolate (50%) followed by Enterococcus species (12%), Enterobacter species (12%), and Klebsiella species (8%). Overall resistance rates to Cotrimoxazole, Ampicillin, Augmentin, and Ceftriaxone were 90.4%, 88.8%, 82.5%, and 79.3%, respectively. The sensitivity rates for Chloramphenicol, Amikacin, Vancomycin, Meropenem, Cefoxitin, and Nitrofurantoin ranged from 72% to 100%. The antibiogram of isolates showed that 43 (86%) isolates were resistant to two or more antimicrobials, and 49 (98%) were resistant to at least one antibiotic. Conclusion and Recommendation: Urinary tract infections are mostly caused by Gram-negative bacteria predominantly in females and Escherichia coli are the most common isolates. Resistance rates to Cotrimoxazole, Ampicillin, Augmentin, and Ceftriaxone were high. Chloramphenicol, Amikacin, Vancomycin, Meropenem, Cefoxitin, and Nitrofurantoin are considered appropriate antimicrobials for the empirical treatment of complicated urinary tract infections in the emergency department. Yet, using antibiotics indiscriminately for patients with complicated UTIs may increase the resistance rate and also lead to treatment failure, hence the prescriptions should be revised following the culture and sensitivity results.