Orthopaedic surgical treatment delays at a tertiary hospital in sub Saharan Africa: Communication gaps and implications for clinical outcomes.

Background: Delay in surgical treatment is a source of distress to patients and an important reason for poor outcome. We studied the delay before carrying out scheduled operative orthopaedic procedures and the factors responsible for it.

Materials And Methods: This prospective study was carried out between March 2011 and December 2012.

The impact of seat-belts in limiting the severity of injuries in patients presenting to a university hospital in the developing world.

Background: Road traffic injuries are major public health problems and a leading cause of death and injury around the world. Approximately 1.2 million people are killed each year in road crashes worldwide, with up to 50 million more injured.

Operative stabilization of open long bone fractures: A tropical tertiary hospital experience.

Background: Operative treatment of open fractures in our environment is fraught with problems of availability of theater space, appropriate hardware, and instrumentation such that high complication rates may be expected.

Materials And Methods: We evaluated all open long bone fractures operatively stabilized at our center to determine the outcome of the various treatment modalities as well as the determinant factors.

Result: A total of 160 patients with 171 fractures treated between December 1995 and December 2008 were studied.

Pre-internship Nigerian medical graduates lack basic musculoskeletal competency.

Purpose: Our aim was to assess the basic musculoskeletal competency of pre-internship graduates from Nigerian medical schools.

Methods: We administered the Freedman and Bernstein basic musculoskeletal competency examination to 113 pre-internship graduates from seven Nigerian medical schools over a three year period from 2008 to 2010 at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital. Five specialist residents took the examination to test criteria relevance.

Determinants of good oral hygiene among pregnant women in ibadan, South-Western Nigeria.

Background And Objectives: The need to attain and maintain good oral hygiene among pregnant women cannot be over emphasized as periodontal diseases in pregnancy have been linked with poor pregnancy outcomes. This study assessed the variables that affect oral hygiene status among pregnant women in a south-western Nigerian locality.

Methodology: Four hundred and five pregnant Nigerian women were assessed for their oral hygiene status using the Oral Hygiene Index-Simplified.

Unintentional injury outcomes secondary to pedestrian traffic crashes: a descriptive analysis from a major medical center.

Introduction: An environment in which traffic regulations are not strictly enforced often is characterized by carnage from motor vehicular crashes resulting in severe injuries with unacceptably high mortality. The descriptive demographics and injury characteristics of pedestrian road crash victims presenting to a tertiary medical center in southwestern Nigeria are presented in order to provide baseline epidemiology as a first step in determining areas of potential mitigation for care of unintentional injuries.

Methods: Consecutive pedestrian road traffic crash patients treated in the Accident and Emergency Department of a tertiary hospital were prospectively reviewed from March 2007 to February 2008 to determine baseline demographics and clinical outcomes.