Pediatric surgery in rural government medical college: A cross-sectional study of admission pattern and need of super speciality services

Abstract

Background: The aim of the study was the admission pattern of elective and emergency patients admitted in the paediatric surgery department to highlight the importance of paediatric surgery super speciality in the rural regions. Materials and Methods: The study was a retrospective cross-sectional study over a period of 1 year from 1st March 2021 to 28th February 2022. All the complete records of patients admitted in paediatric surgery (age ≤15 years) from 1st March 2021 to 28th February 2022 were included in the study. The collected data were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (IBM SPSS 26.0, Armonk, NY, USA: IBM Corp.). Descriptive and analytical methods were utilised. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant with 95% confidence interval. Results: A total of 155 patients were admitted, the mean age was 6.5 (standard deviation ± 4.7) years and male-to-female ratio was 2.5:1. n = 96 were elective admissions while n = 59 were emergency admissions. Most common elective surgery performed was hernias (17%) while most common emergency surgery performed was appendicectomy (9%). Trauma represents 11% admissions. The most common cause of non-operative admission was non-specific abdominal pain abdomen (8.4%). Mean pre-operative stay and total hospital stay for elective surgeries compared to emergency surgeries were statistically significant (P < 0.05). No surgical site infection observed among emergency and elective cases. Conclusions: In our study, the most common causes of admissions were hernia, appendicitis, trauma and non-specific abdominal pain requiring super speciality services in the rural regions.

Keywords

• paediatric surgeon
• rural regions
• specialised care