FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH TIME TAKEN TO PRESENT TO THE HOSPITAL WITH ACUTE BOWEL OBSTRUCTION: PARIRENYATWA, ZIMBABWE.

Abstract

Tittle of the study: Factors associated with time taken to present to the hospital among
patients aged 20 to 40 years with acute bowel obstruction admitted in Parirenyatwa surgical
wards.
Introduction: Acute small bowel obstruction is a common surgical emergency which
constitutes a major cause of morbidity and financial expenditure in hospitals around the
world and a significant cause of admissions to emergency surgical departments. The
management method of bowel obstruction and success of the management is among other
factors determined by the time taken to present to the hospital .It has been shown that those
patients who present to the hospital within 24 hours from onset of symptoms have high
management success rate.
Aim: This research study aimed at determining the factors associated with the time taken to
present to hospital among patients aged 20 to 40 years with acute small bowel obstruction in
Parirenyatwa General Surgical Wards
Methodology: This study utilized a quantitative, descriptive, non-experimental design. 30
participants were conveniently selected from an accessible population of men and women
with acute small bowel obstruction aged 20 to 40 years admitted in PGH general surgical
wards. Data was analysed using SPSS.
Results: A total of 30 patients with acute small bowel obstruction participated in this
research. Two (6.7%) of the participants had prior knowledge about bowel obstruction a
majority (93.3%) had no knowledge about the disease till they got sick. A lager number of the
participants (70%) presented late between 2 to 10 days. Lack of finance was one of the
contributing factor to late presentation as expressed by (20%) of the participants.
Conclusion: From this study, lack of knowledge, lack of finances and long distance to the
health care facilities were the leading causes of delays in seeking medical care in acute small
bowel obstruction.