Delays in emergency medical care: a cross-sectional study using the emergency severity index at Kaya Regional Hospital, Burkina Faso

Abstract

Medical emergencies must be promptly treated to avoid death and serious complications. This study assessed the extent and factors contributing to the delayed care in public hospitals. This cross-sectional study was conducted from 07 to 23 October, 2024, involving 162 patients admitted to the medical emergency department of the regional hospital of Kaya. The Emergency Severity Index (ESI) scale was used to identify delays in care delivery. Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis, and Chi-square tests were used, at the 5% threshold, to estimate the statistical significance of relationships between variables. The results showed that the median time to care provision was 60 min (5 -213 min). In addition, 79% of patients were managed with delays. No significant link was found between the delay in care and patients' sociodemographic characteristics. On the other hand, the extent of delay differed significantly according to disease severity (p=0.002), with 100% of the most severe patients (grades 1 and 2) being managed late compared with 8% of the least severe cases (grade 5). The absence of emergency drugs available within the service, the absence of predefined emergency kits at the Essential and Generic Drugs deposit, and the payment system are factors contributing to the delay in care. Making emergency medicine kits available in the emergency department and introducing prepayment-free treatment would appear to be levers for reducing delays in treating medical emergencies in public hospitals.