EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDY OF INJURIES IN THE EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT OF THE UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL OF GEORGIA.

Injuries represent a significant burden on societies, resulting in deaths and health care costs incurred during Emergency Department visits and hospitalizations. This research aimed to estimate the burden of traumatic injury of patients treated and evaluated in the Emergency Department of the University Hospital in Georgia. A retrospective study was conducted at the University Hospital of Georgia for all trauma patients from January 1, 2018 to June 30, 2018. Visits were identified from existing electronic medical records, using the iCREATE Registry as a model. Data collected included patient demographics, injury characteristics, and injury costs. To estimate the direct costs of trauma treatment, data were obtained from the cost accounting database. A total of 2445 injured patients aged 0 to 91 years were medically examined during the study period and about 65% of them were male. Most of the injured patients were school-age children (31%). The leading mechanism of injury in the Emergency Departments were falls (45%). Most of the patients (78%) suffered from moderate injuries and needed only outpatient treatment. The total direct costs for all patients were $248 628. Fall-related injury costs accounted for most direct medical costs (51%), followed by road traffic crashes related costs (23%). Road traffic injured patients had the highest total mean costs ($269). Injuries result in a substantial number of Emergency Department visits and significant medical costs in Georgia. Understanding the characteristics of these injuries is essential for targeting injury prevention.

TRACKING PREGNANCY OUTCOMES: DATA FROM BIRTH REGISTER OF GEORGIA.

Reliable and high quality data are critical to identify issues related to maternal health and factors affecting the reproductive health as well as to measure progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. In 2016, an electronic case-based system for antenatal and obstetric services, so called "Georgian Birth Registry" (GBR), which provides continuous monitoring of pregnant women from the first antenatal visit until childbirth, was introduced in Georgia. GBR gave the possibility to describe maternal and child health, as well as reproductive health issues in correlation with different social factors, which influenced the fertility and pregnancy outcomes. In Georgia there is a lack of study addressing pregnancy outcomes. The aim of the research is to study influence of education, employment status and place of residence on pregnancy outcomes among women in Georgia. Methods. GBR data from 2018 has been used for this study. Results. The most important overall findings are: pros - high percent of timely initiation of first visit (from 70% to 80% and more) for all observed women, cons - the high rates of unplanned pregnancies (52%), particularly in adolescents (47%), high rates of abortions (31%), high percent of C-Sections, without indication in adolescents (25%). Tracking pregnancies and their outcomes trough registry system is an innovative approach for LMICs, which gives an opportunity to correlate some social-economic and behavioral characteristics in female population that can help in determining the preventive interventions aimed to reduce maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality in LMICs.

Human rights for better quality of life.

This article reviews problems of pain relief for incurable patients, in the context of human rights and international standards in this field. In respect to international and national humans and patients rights, regarding to achieve better quality of life, the governments should identify and determine the problems and obstacles that impede opioid use for medical purposes, in aim rich adequate pain relief for incurable patients. Implementation of newly adopted legislation in Georgia into practice will enable to overcome existing barriers; hence these patients will be able to pass their last path of life under care, as much as possible without pain and with dignity.