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Impact of Nepal Earthquake on Patients Presenting for Emergency Care at Patan Hospital

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 February 2018

Mimang Tembe ,
Sushma Dhakal ,
Ashis Shrestha ,
Josh Mugele  and
Darlene R. House
Mimang Tembe
Affiliation:
Department of General Practice and Emergency Medicine, Patan Academy of Health Sciences, Kathmandu, Nepal
Sushma Dhakal
Affiliation:
Department of General Practice and Emergency Medicine, Patan Academy of Health Sciences, Kathmandu, Nepal
Ashis Shrestha
Affiliation:
Department of General Practice and Emergency Medicine, Patan Academy of Health Sciences, Kathmandu, Nepal
Josh Mugele
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana
Darlene R. House*
Affiliation:
Department of General Practice and Emergency Medicine, Patan Academy of Health Sciences, Kathmandu, Nepal Department of Emergency Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to Darlene R. House, MD, MS, Department of General Practice and Emergency Medicine, Patan Academy of Health Sciences, PO Box 26500, Kathmandu, Nepal (e-mail: dhouse@iu.edu).
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Abstract

Objective

Natural disasters have a significant impact on the health sector. On April 25, 2015, Nepal was struck by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake. The aim of the study was to compare patient volumes and clinical conditions presenting to the emergency department pre- and post-earthquake.

Methods

A retrospective study was done at Patan Hospital Emergency Department in Kathmandu, Nepal. Volume, demographics, and patient diagnoses were collected for 4 months post-disaster and compared with cases seen the same months the year before the disaster to control for seasonal variations.

Results

After the 2015 Nepal earthquake, 12,180 patients were seen in the emergency department. This was a significant decrease in patient volume compared with the 14,971 patients seen during the same months in 2014 (P=0.04). Of those, 5496 patients (4093 pre-disaster and 1433 post-disaster) had a chief complaint or diagnosis recorded for analysis. An increase in cardiovascular and respiratory cases was seen as well as an increase in psychiatric cases (mostly alcohol related) and cases of anemia. There was a decrease in the number of obstetrics/gynecology, infectious disease, and poisoning cases post-earthquake.

Conclusions

Understanding emergency department utilization after the earthquake has the potential to give further insight into improving disaster preparedness plans for post-disaster health needs. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2019;13:211–216).

Keywords

disaster preparednessearthquakeNepalemergency carehealth care utilization
Type
Original Research
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , April 2019 , pp. 211 - 216
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2018 

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