Abstract

Background: Road traffic accidents (RTAs) are a public health issue and cost a lot to individuals, families, communities, and nations. The estimated cost is around 1–2% of a country’s Gross National Product in lower income countries. Rural India has inefficient services for trauma care, due to the varied topography, financial constraints, and lack of appropriate health infrastructure and reach to them in their golden period.

Objectives: The objectives of the study were to study the pattern of injury and to assess the effectiveness of ambulance services.

Materials and Methods: This was a hospital-based, cross-sectional study of victims of RTA cases as study subjects who were admitted in the emergency department of a tertiary care hospital after they are stabilized and shifted to orthopedics and surgery ward. It included comatose patients and excluding patients of the outpatient department.

Results: Majority of RTA victims used government ambulance 354 (54.1%) followed by owned vehicle 214 (32.7%) and least of them used private ambulance 86 (13.2%) to reach the hospital. Only 276 (42.2%) of victims received ambulance services at the time of accident occurrence in their golden period. In our study, mechanism of injury majorly was collision type 451 (69%) followed by acceleration 110 (16.9%) and deceleration 93 (14.3%) among the road accident victims. Among various body head region was most common 254 (39%) followed by lower limb 230 (35.2%).

Conclusion: The mortality among road accident cases increased with the increase in duration to reach the hospital. The system which was involved in RTA cases was majorly skeletal system followed by the central nervous system.

Key words: Road Traffic Accidents; Pattern of Injury; Tertiary Care Hospital