Clinical Profile of Pediatric Burn Patients in Burn Care Unit of Halibet Hospital in 2018: Asmara, Eritrea.

BACKGROUND: Pediatric burn injuries result in severe and long-term complications in the developing world, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Accurate data on burn injuries are either unavailable or incomplete in Eritrea. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to define the clinical characteristics of pediatric burn injuries in the Burn Care Unit of Halibet hospital in 2018 in Asmara, Eritrea. METHODS: The study design was a retrospective cross-sectional descriptive study. The medical records of pediatric patients aged 15 years and below admitted to the Burn Care Unit of Halibet hospital between January 2018 and December 2018 were assessed. RESULTS: In the study period, 524 children with burn injuries were admitted to the Unit. The mean age of the study group was 4.2±3.7 years. Nearly 75% of the patients were in the age group 1-5 years. In 95.3% of the patients, scalds were the most common type of burn with burn injury occurring mostly indoor in 98.1% of cases. The average length of hospital stay was 4.6±8.4 days with a median of 1 day. In 94.8% of the patients, the body surface area involved was 1-10%, and the most body part involved was the extremity in 80.7% of the cases. Patients with body surface involvement >10% and who came from rural areas stayed longer in hospital and those with scald burns have a shorter hospital stay. Patients with body surface area involvement >10% and who came from rural areas also have more complications. CONCLUSION: The most affected age group were 1-5 years old children with scalds being the most common type of burns with injury occurring mostly indoors in this population. Teaching parents about household safety, seeking early medical attention, and raising public awareness could decrease the incidence of burn injury in children.

The Use of Hall's Technique Preformed Metal Crown (HTPMC) by Pediatric Dentists in Malaysia.

INTRODUCTION: Hall's technique preformed metal crown (HTPMC) has been used widely by pediatric dentists in developed countries as a new approach for managing decayed primary molars without local anesthesia, caries removal, and tooth preparation. Currently, inadequate information is available regarding the implementation of this technique (HTPMC) in Malaysia. This study is aimed at evaluating the implementation of HTPMC by Malaysia's pediatric dentists and identify the co-occurrence frequencies of the HTPMC implementation with the respondents' demographic profile. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional questionnaire-based research was conducted among 65 pediatric dentists in Malaysia. Online questionnaires were distributed to the pediatric dentists employed at public hospitals (MOH) and universities in Malaysia. RESULT: It was found that over half of the respondents (65.6%) employed HTPMC. The analysis of the co-occurrence network frequency revealed that a high frequency of female pediatric dentists who were within the age group of 31-40 years old had fulfilled their postgraduation overseas and was employed in the university mainly applied HTPMC. CONCLUSION: The application of HTPMC among respondent pediatric dentists in Malaysia was high. However, most respondents considered HTPMC a treatment option only to manage carious primary molar rather than a treatment of choice.

Intervention to reduce parental bypass of community pediatric primary health facilities in asmara, eritrea.

OBJECTIVE: To reduce direct parental referral of low acuity ill pediatric patients to the outpatient facilities of a nation's only pediatric referral hospital. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Longitudinal monitoring of outpatient visits at Orotta Children's Hospital (OCH) and primary health facilities (PHFs) following implementation of an intervention designed in response to information provided by parents and health-care providers. Parental surveys were undertaken before and after exposure to the intervention to assess effects on knowledge, attitudes, and behavioral intentions. RESULTS: We analyzed 5,639 visits between baseline and follow-up, documenting a decline in parental referral among OCH outpatients from 95% to approximately 80%. Educational intervention increased the proportion of parents intending to use PHF for future outpatient care from 28% to 82%. Staff of the PHFs responded enthusiastically to this intervention program and requested further activities. CONCLUSIONS: Self-referral to tertiary care hospital was reduced following a modest program of parental education designed and implemented by residents in training.