I''fluence Of Emergency Medicine Policy On Facility Capacity And Quality Of Care At Government Hospitals In Tamale

ABSTRACT

Health emergenc ies occur everywhere from the market place to the house to by the roadside, and

each day they consume resources regardless of whether there are systemsca pableofachieving

good outcomes or not. Ina low resource country like Ghana policy and guidelines will play a

very integral role in ensuring quality and efficiency of emergency servic es at all tiersofservicc.

In 2011,the Accident and emergency policy was introduced to helpstren gthen the capatitiesof

facilities in emergency care management. Northem region accounts for the most (20%)

motorcycle fatalities in Ghana. The region is characterized by a huge land mass and population

with poor communication and road network, lack of relevant data collection tools and low

funding sources, leaves Iitlle doubt as to the reasons for poor healt h indices thus makingil the

weak link in the overall health system. Most facilities in Tamale are expected to be in the very

early stages of implementation of the emergency policy and to have low capacity for emergency

service delivery with a lack of strategic leadership, poor managemen tandfundingaspostulated

etiologies

Employing current policy and gu ideline tools from both Ihe Ministry of Health and the African

Federation of Emergency Medicine (AFEM), this study assessed Ihe current emergency service

deliverycapacityofTamaJe,thecapital ofthenorthemregion,inselected facilities.

This study was a descriptive cross-sectional study, which employed quantitative and qualitative

methods to elicit responses to the specific objectives. Data were reviewed over a four -week

period from selected facil ities at all four government hospitals in Tamale.

Results from all four health facilities shows the unavailability of health supplicsas the leading

cause of non-performance of emergency procedures, followed by no training, lack of human

resources and infrastructure. The unavailability of a policy was the least reason for non·

performance showing that the policy exists and peoplc art: aware of the emergency policy.

However, policy availability however did nOI translate into the needed accoutrements for proper

capacity building.

Conclusions: There is currenUy not much influence of the emergency policy on facility capacity

and quality of emergency care in government hospitals in Tamale.

Recommendations: There is the need to provide the needed supplies, equipment. training,

infrastruclureand human resource to help build needed capacily to provide e mergency care at all level