Assessing knowledge and skills of laypersons bringing victims of road traffic collisions to Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi

2020 ◽  
pp. 004947552097436
Author(s):  
Shabnam Sheikh ◽  
Wakisa Mulwafu ◽  
Wyness Tengeneza Mulenga Gondwe ◽  
Mulinda Nyirenda ◽  
Foster Mbomuwa ◽  
...  

In Malawi, pre-hospital care assistance is mainly provided by laypersons who witnessed the event. The aim of our study was to determine the knowledge and skills of such persons who bring victims of road traffic crashes to hospital. The study was conducted at Adult Emergency and Trauma Centre at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi. A total of 392 participants were interviewed. Most were merchants (22%) and unskilled labourers (14.5%). Three quarters (75.8%) provided assistance on the scene. The most common assistance provided was transporting victim to the hospital (68.7%), assisting with safe lifting (57.9%) and calling for help (39.7%). Airway protection was provided by only 1% of participants. Therefore, it is recommended to establish some formal pre-hospital assistance to reduce morbidity and mortality from road traffic crashes. Laypersons, especially merchants, students and drivers are potential strong first responders, and training them may help improve pre-hospital care outcome.

2013 ◽  
Vol 103 (11) ◽  
pp. 850 ◽  
Author(s):  
F Parkinson ◽  
S Kent ◽  
C Aldous ◽  
G Oosthuizen ◽  
D Clarke

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Dagenais ◽  
Michelle Proulx ◽  
Esther Mc Sween-Cadieux ◽  
Aude Nikiema ◽  
Emmanuel Bonnet ◽  
...  

AbstractIn this commentary, we present a follow-up of two articles published in 2017 and 2018 about road traffic crashes, which is an important public health issue in Africa and Burkina Faso. The first article reported on a research project, conducted in partnership with local actors involved in road safety, carried out in Ouagadougou in 2015. Its aim was to test the effectiveness, acceptability, and capacity of a surveillance system to assess the number of road traffic crashes and their consequences on the health of crash victims. Several knowledge translation activities were carried out to maximize its impact and were reported in the 2018 article published in HRPS: monthly reports presenting the research data, large-format printed maps distributed to the city’s police stations, and a deliberative workshop held at the end of the research project. The present commentary presents our efforts to deepen our understanding of the impacts of the knowledge translation strategy, based on follow-up interviews, 18 months after the workshop, with the heads of the road traffic crash units in Ouagadougou police stations (n = 5). Several benefits were reported by respondents. Their involvement in the process prompted them to broaden their knowledge of other ways of dealing with the issue of road crashes. This led them, sometimes with their colleagues, to intervene differently: more rapid response at collision sites, increased surveillance of dangerous intersections, user awareness-raising on the importance of the highway code, etc. However, sustaining these actions over the longer term has proven difficult. Several lessons were derived from this experience, regarding the importance of producing useful and locally applicable research data, of ensuring the acceptability of the technologies used for data collection, of using collaborative approaches in research and knowledge translation, of ensuring the visibility of actions undertaken by actors in the field, and of involving decision-makers in the research process to maximize its impacts.


2014 ◽  
Vol 66 ◽  
pp. 36-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramazan Mirzaei ◽  
Nima Hafezi-Nejad ◽  
Mohammad Sadegh Sabagh ◽  
Alireza Ansari Moghaddam ◽  
Vahid Eslami ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.J. Robbins ◽  
S. Fotios ◽  
J. Uttley ◽  
R. Rowe

Pedestrians and motorcyclists are vulnerable road users, being over represented in road traffic collisions (RTCs). One assumed benefit of road lighting is a reduction in RTCs after dark by countering the impairment to the visual detection of hazards that occur after dark. One way to optimise the use of road lighting is to light only those sections of road where light level, and hence visibility, is an important factor. The current study used change in ambient light level on RTCs to investigate those situations where improved vision is likely to have significant impact, and therefore the situations where road lighting is of better cost-benefit effectiveness. For both motorcyclist and pedestrian RTCs there was a significant increase in overall RTC risk in darkness compared to daylight, indicating that there may be an overall benefit of road lighting. While darkness was a particular detriment at junctions for motorcyclists and on high-speed roads for pedestrians, road lighting may not be effective mitigation in either case and therefore alternative ways of increasing conspicuity should be considered.


2019 ◽  

In the three years since the last road safety report was issued, the number of road traffic deaths has continued to increase throughout the Americas, reaching 154,997 deaths in 2016 (latest year of available data). However, the death rate from road traffic crashes has remained stable (15.6 per 100,000 population in 2016 as compared to 15.9 per 100,000 population in 2013). Data presented in this report show that aspects of road safety management, legislation, and post-crash care have improved in some countries. However, the improvements have been modest and it is clear that the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 3.6, to halve road traffic deaths by 2020, will not be achieved... Since 2014, more countries in the Region have implemented road safety legislation. Two additional countries, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay, established laws on drink-driving based on best practice, bringing the total to eight countries. Ecuador implemented legislation on helmet use (resulting in a total of seven countries), Dominican Republic implemented legislation on seat-belts (19 countries in total), while Chile implemented child restraint laws (two countries in total). However, no new speed laws have been enacted in the Region. Overall, four countries (Chile, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, and Uruguay) have amended their laws regarding one or more road safety risk factors to bring them in line with best practice. Despite these legislative developments, enforcement remains a major challenge in most countries...


2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 480 ◽  
Author(s):  
AM Adejugbagbe ◽  
AA Fatiregun ◽  
A Rukewe ◽  
T Alonge

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