Evaluation of the casuality department at Polokwane Mankweng Hospital Complex in the Limpopo Province

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dc.contributor.authorMohapi, Morongwa Caroline
dc.date.accessioned2014-09-11T08:38:46Z
dc.date.available2014-09-11T08:38:46Z
dc.date.issued2014
dc.descriptionresearch report submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Public Health in the field of Hospital Management MAY 2014
dc.description.abstractBACKGROUND: One of the key challenges facing the Limpopo Department of Health and Social Development in the area of Casualty Care is the lack of trained personnel and the inappropriate referral and utilisation of these services. There has been no known study conducted in this area in the South African context and therefore this study was undertaken to evaluate the services rendered within the Casualty Department at the Polokwane Mankweng Hospital Complex with specific reference to material and human resources as well as efficiency of the unit. AIM: To evaluate the Hospital Casualty Department in the Polokwane Mankweng Hospital Complex in terms of caseload, influencing factors and implications on resource utilisation during a one year study period. METHODOLOGY: A cross sectional study design was employed in this study. A retrospective record review was done and information was extracted from various sources of hospital information systems. No primary data was collected for this study. The setting of this study was the Casualty Departments at Polokwane Mankweng Hospital Complex. The two hospitals constituting this complex are situated 30 km apart in Polokwane and Turfloop respectively. Data was collected on various variables that are relevant to the functioning of, and resource utilisation in the Casualty Unit of this Complex. Variables including that of caseload, patient profiles, service costs and workload on human resources were measured. RESULTS: This study based on retrospective review of records of 250 patients’ records selected by a simple random sample from a cohort of 14,113 patients who attended the Casualty Department of the Polokwane Mankweng Hospital Complex during one year study period. One fifth of the patients were referred from other health facilities and more than 60% of the patients were discharged after receiving treatment which implied that these patients could be managed at a regional or district hospital. More patients with medical aid bypassed the referral system. Almost half of the patients arrived after-hours (from 18h00 to 6h00). This is the first study in the Limpopo Province which looked at the direct cost per patient at the Casualty Department. In 2008/09, overall expenditure was R 10,321,401.42 (including R 954,168.45 for pharmacy products, other consumables R 177,261.16 and Laboratory tests R 1,866,233.25). Overall the Department accounts for an estimated R 7,323,804 in personnel annual expenditure of the hospital. Unit personnel cost per patient was estimated at R518.94 (70.96% of total recurrent cost), while the unit costs for the Pharmaceuticals, Stores and Laboratory tests were; R67.23 (9.24%), R12.56 (1.72%) and R132.24 (18.08%) per patient respectively. Overall the combined unit cost was estimated at R731.34 per single emergency care patient excluding the capital costs. CONCLUSION: The results of the study will be used to guide the allocation of appropriate resources, and to highlight the need to implement an effective referral system, which will assist in reducing the workload.en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10539/15517
dc.language.isoenen_ZA
dc.subject.meshEmergency Service, Hospital
dc.subject.meshEvaluation Studies
dc.titleEvaluation of the casuality department at Polokwane Mankweng Hospital Complex in the Limpopo Provinceen_ZA
dc.typeThesisen_ZA
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