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Introduction Intentional pesticide poisoning is a major clinical and public health problem in agricultural communities in low and middle income countries like Nepal. Bans of highly hazardous pesticides (HHP) reduce the number of suicides. We aimed to identify these pesticides by reviewing data from major hospitals across the country and from forensic toxicology laboratories. Methods We retrospectively reviewed medical records of 10 hospitals for pesticide poisoned patients and two forensic laboratories of Nepal from April 2017 to February 2020. The poison was identified from the history, referral note, and clinical toxidrome in the hospitals and from gas chromatography analysis in the laboratories. Data on demographics, poison, and patient outcome were recorded on a data collection sheet. Simple descriptive analysis was performed. Results Among hospital cases (n = 4148), the commonest form of poisoning was self-poisoning (95.8%) while occupation poisoning was rare (0.03%). Case fatality was 5.3% (n = 62). Aluminum phosphide (n = 38/62, 61.3%) was the most commonly identified lethal pesticide for deaths. Forensic toxicology laboratories reported 2535 deaths positive for pesticides, with the compounds most commonly identified being organophosphorus (OP) insecticides (n = 1463/2535; 57.7%), phosphine gas (n = 653/2535; 25.7%; both aluminum [11.8%] and zinc [0.4%] phosphide) and organochlorine insecticides (n = 241/2535; 9.5%). The OP insecticide most commonly identified was dichlorvos (n = 273/450, 60.6%). Conclusion The data held in the routine hospital medical records were incomplete but suggested that case fatality in hospitals was relatively low. The pesticides identified as causing most deaths were dichlorvos and aluminum phosphide. Since this study was completed, dichlorvos has been banned and the most toxic formulation of aluminum phosphide removed from sale. Improving the medical record system and working with forensic toxicology laboratories will allow problematic HHPs to be identified and the effects of the bans in reducing deaths monitored.

Introduction: Nepal has diverse terrain and the length of time taken by the patients to get medical help is often too long. Road linkage transport may not exist, inadequate or are unreliable and irregular. Materials and Methods: After ethical clearance, this prospective observational study was done by convenient sampling, among 2211 patients arriving in the emergency ward of B. P. Koirala Institute of health science over a period of one month. A pre-tested validated questionnaire consisting of questions related to study objectives (i.e. demography, preferred mode of transport, reasons for choosing the transport, facilities available in ambulance, cost and time taken through ambulance service and any pre-hospital care received) was handed over to the patient or their relatives and their responses were collected. Descriptive analysis was done in SPSS software version 11.2. Result: Out of the 2211 patients presented in emergency ward, 43.2% (955) came in an ambulance. Patients with ATS 2 (very sick) arriving in ambulance were 27.6%. The median time taken by ambulance is 2 hours (IQR 1-3hrs). The median distance covered is 55km ((IQR 38km- 80km). The median cost paid was USD 31.25 or NRs. 3500 (IQR NRs 2000- NRs 6000, USD 17.86- 53.57).Their main reason expressed for not choosing ambulance service was high cost, i.e. expensive (26%).About one third subjects (29.4%) had used some sort of pre-hospital care. Conclusion: Patients preferred private vehicles to arrive in emergency ward of this hospital with high acuity triage score (ATS 2). Awareness needs to be raised among Nepalese population to enhance the practice of using ambulance service for patient transport.

Background: Sepsis and Septic shock are a common presentation in the Emergency Department with high morbidity and mortality. Serum lactate level increases substantially in the patients with septic shock. The objectives of this study were to determine serum lactate levels at the time of presentation, find out the outcome and correlate lactate levels with the outcome in the patients with septic shock. Methods: It is a prospective cross-sectional study of patients presenting to the Emergency, who met the criteria for septic shock defined by Surviving Sepsis Guidelines 2012. Patients’ demographics, co morbidity, triage vitals, laboratory and radiological parameters were recorded. The primary outcome was mortality and secondary outcomes were duration of stay in hospital and complications, if any, developed during hospital stay. Results: Eighty-four cases were enrolled, with male to female ratio of 1:1. Mean age was46.40 19.59 years. The significant variables were: serum lactate (p

Background: Rose Angina Questionnaire (RAQ) is a useful screening questionnaire for ischemic heart disease validated in different settings; however, its diagnostic ability to predict myocardial infarction (MI) in the emergency is less clear. Objectives: To find out the usefulness of RAQ to predict MI in patients presenting to the emergency. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at the BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences (BPKIHS), a teaching hospital in eastern Nepal from 1 January to 30 March 2017, after ethical clearance from the Institutional Review Committee. Informed consent was obtained from the patients for their anonymised information to be published in this study The samples were collected from 100 patients with chest pain aged 40 to 70 years presenting to the emergency. RAQ was applied and its performance to detect MI was compared with emergency and cardiologist diagnosis of MI. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative value were calculated along with descriptive analysis. Results: A total of 100 patients were analysed with the mean age of 63.78 years (SD 11.60) and male to female ratio of 1.94. RAQ detected 58 cases (63.8%) with emergency department (ED) diagnosis of MI (true positive) and identified 3 (33.3%) cases with non-MI (true negative). The true positive rate for RAQ to detect MI after cardiologist consultation was 71.6%. RAQ had a sensitivity of 84.91% (95% confidence interval (CI) 72.41% –93.25%) to detect positive troponin, 63.74% (52.99–73.56) to detect positive electrocardiogram (ECG) and 71.60% (95% CI 60.5% to 81.07%) to detect final diagnosis of MI. Conclusion: RAQ is a good screening tool to detect MI in the emergency that can be used in isolation or in combination with other diagnostic modalities to detect it early.

Background: Medico-legal case usually presents as an emergency case in any hospital. Profiling of these cases provides with evidence on the burden of the medico-legal cases and identifying ways to better manage these cases in the emergency ward of hospitals. Objective: To study the profile of medico-legal cases coming to the emergency ward of B. P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences (BPKIHS), Dharan, Nepal. Material & Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of all medico-legal cases presenting in the emergency ward of BPKIHS from April 2015 to March 2016. The cases were profiled for socio-demography, injury and diagnosis from the medico-legal register at the emergency ward of BPKIHS. Results: Medico-legal cases comprise almost 10% of all cases at the emergency ward of BPKIHS. A total of 3,715 cases were included in this study. Half (50.0%) of the cases fell in to the category of 25-59 years. Males were almost twice (62.7%) in number, compared to females (37.3%). The top three diagnoses among medico-legal cases are road traffic accidents (41.81%), physical assault (21.13%) and poisoning (20.08%). Other diagnoses were burns, fall injury, sexual assault, self inflicted injury, hanging, gunshot injury, stab injury, machinery injury, drug overdose, blast injury, brought dead, trauma by animal, electrical injury, snake bite and human bite. Conclusions: There are significant numbers and wide varieties of medico-legal cases that present in the emergency ward of BPKIHS. Given the large number of cases presenting at BPKIHS, there is a potential for future research on medico-legal cases for academic and policy purpose.

Background: The emergency department of B.P Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan, a 700 bedded tertiary care centre provides all medical and surgical services, with easy access to patients by their family members during most of the resuscitation procedures. Complete privacy hence is not ideally maintained. Coping with emotional stress among the family members can be a gruesome experience and reactions from them can be unpredictable. Hence, health professionals are usually exposed to various emotions of the family members of these sick patients. Methods: It is a descriptive cross sectional study among the health professionals working in the emergency department. A sample size of 80 is taken over a period of 3 months. A semi-structured questionnaire leaflet was distributed and collected by the researcher. The attitude and belief was evaluated by 12 questions on the 5 point Liker scale and cutoff value being 3. Points less than 36 were given as negative attitude towards the family presence and more being positive. Results: Out of 80samples, 75 completed with a response rate of about 94%. The majority belonged to age group 20-29 years (70.7%) age, among profession Nurses respondents were about 56%. Male and Female respondent were about equal in numbers, qualification with undergraduate level was higher (73.3%), with an experience of less than 1year being 40%. Amongst the responders there is a positive attitude with increasing age, experience and qualification. Conclusion: The health professionals had a negative attitude towards the presence of family members during the resuscitation or invasive procedures. Hence with the ethnicity and cultural aspect of family their presence is well accepted. Health Renaissance 2015;13 ( 3 ): 152-160

Aconitine and related alkaloids found in the Aconitum species are highly cardiotoxic and neurotoxic. The wild plant (especially the roots and root tubers) is extremely toxic. Severe aconite poisoning can occur after accidental ingestion of the wild plant or consumption of an herbal made from aconite roots. In traditional Chinese medicine, aconite roots are used only after processing to reduce the toxic alkaloid content. Soaking and boiling during processing will hydrolyze aconite alkaloids into less toxic and non-toxic derivatives. However, the use of a larger than recommended dose and inadequate processing increases the risk of poisoning. The aconite herb is one of the commonly-prescribed ingredients for various clinical problems. However, due to its narrow therapeutic index, toxicities are not uncommonly encountered, including life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias like ventricular arrhythmias Health Renaissance 2015; 13 (1): 108-111

Pramendra Prasad Gupta,1 Rabin Bhandari,1 Deebya Raj Mishra,2 Krishna Kumar Agrawal,3 Rupak Bhandari,1 Sunil Jirel,1 Gyanendra Malla1 1Department of General Practice and Emergency Medicine, B. P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan, Nepal; 2Department of Internal Medicine, B. P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan, Nepal; 3Department of Internal Medicine, Nepal Medical College and Teaching Hospital, Kathmandu, Nepal Background: Drug-induced hypersensitivity reaction is of great clinical significance in therapeutics. The objective of this reporting of two cases is to show that anaphylaxis reaction can occur with pantoprazole. Case summaries: A 38-year-old female reported to the emergency ward in a critical condition, with a history of periorbital edema, edema of the skin, pruritus, nausea, vomiting, and difficulty breathing 20 minutes after ingestion of a pantoprazole 40 mg tablet. A 32-year-old female reported to the emergency ward in a critical condition, with complaints of rashes all over the body, itching on the whole body, and swollen lips and eyes after ingestion of a pantoprazole 40 mg tablet. Conclusion: It is necessary for all health care providers to know that pantoprazole can cause anaphylaxis, which is a life-threatening reaction, and to be cautious while prescribing it. Keywords: anaphylactic reactions, pantoprazole, proton pump inhibitors

Acute organophosphate poisoning is the most common pesticide poisoning which can be manifested in three unique phases of toxic effects e.g. Acute Cholinergic Crisis, Intermediate Syndrome (IMS), Delayed Polyneuropathy. Looking at the previous cases reports the incidence of Intermediate Syndrome has been reported to be as high as 80%.The present study attempted to report a comparable form of incidences encountered in Emergency Department of BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences (BPKIHS) in Eastern Nepal. Chlorpyriphos was the commonest compound associated with IMS. Early recognition with plasma acetylcholinesterase level as well as Peradeniya Organophosphorus Poisoning (POP) Scaled score might be useful tool in early diagnosis of Intermediate Syndrome.

Introduction: Many patients do not understand their emergency care plan or their discharge instructions. Patients should understand both the care that they received and their discharge instructions. Patients’ knowledge of the diagnosis and treatment plan is an integral component of patient education. The objective of the study is to identify and describe the areas of patients’ understanding and confusion about emergency care and discharge instructions at the BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan, Nepal. Methods: A qualitative study involving 426 patients discharged from the emergency unit of BPKIHS using a semi-structured questionnaire. Cases who are Leaving against medical advice, absconded cases and those patients who came just for vaccination are excluded from the study. The ethical approval for this study was received from the institutional review committee of B P Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan [Ref: IRC/0752/016]. Results: There were 256 (60.1%) of men in this study. More than half of the participants reported not being able to read English. More than 90% of the respondents reported they could not read their prescription at all. While patient could point out their understanding of their diagnosis at discharge, most of them could not tell the names and the dosage of all the drugs prescribed to them at discharge. More than 95% of the patients could not tell the most common side effects of the drugs that they are prescribed. Conclusions: There is a need to further explore the factors influencing the understanding of the patients regarding their treatment plan. Interventions to understand the health literacy needs and ways to improve the health literacy of the patients are needed.

Introduction: Self-prescription of medicines are common especially in low income countries. Paracetamol is a common medicine that is self-prescribed also among university students. Incorrect use of paracetamol can lead to ill effects on health including liver failure. There is scarce evidence of the use of paracetamol by self-medication in Nepal. The objective of this study is to evaluate the paracetamol use by self-prescription among the undergraduate students of BPKIHS.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 570 undergraduate students of BPKIHS from February 2016 till July 2016. Pretested semi-structured, self-administered questionnaire was used to collect information regarding socio-demographic characteristics, paracetamol use and perception regarding paracetamol use. Systematic random sampling was done from a list of all medical dental and nursing students to select the study sample. Results: Most (86%) students are in the category of 20-24 years. Female students are slightly more than male. Majority of the students are from Nepal. More than half of the students are from medical stream. Self-prescription of paracetamol is seen among 90.1% of the students in our study. Correct dose of paracetamol was mentioned by less than half (49.3%) of the students. Self-prescription of paracetamol is considered beneficial by all participants of this study.Conclusions: Self-prescription of paracetamol by health sciences students of B P Koirala Institute of Health Sciences is high, while the knowledge of correct dose of paracetamol for adults is low. There is a need to further explore this gap and possibly conduct further studies for other medicines as well. Keywords: Paracetamol; Self-prescription; health sciences students; undergraduate students. | PubMed

Objectives Nepal is a least developed country, with limited healthcare resources. An 18 month Fellowship in Emergency Medicine has contributed some improvements to care. This study assessed time to first analgesia in higher and lower acuity patients. Methods A prospective observational study of 101 patients in each of the Australasian Triage Scale (ATS) 2, 3 and 100 in ATS 4 was undertaken at B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences. Convenience sampling was used coinciding with researcher's duty hours. Pain scores and time to analgesia were recorded. Results A total of 302 patients were included. The doctors identified pain in 274 (90%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 86.74–93.65), severity recorded in 92 (30.5%, 95% CI 25–36). Median time from triage to analgesia was 30 min (interquartile range [IQR] 15–60) for ATS 2 patients, 60 min (IQR 40–70) for ATS 3 and 69 min (IQR 45–116) for ATS 4. Tramadol was the analgesic used most commonly (33%), followed by diclofenac (25%), morphine (16%), paracetamol (14%) and ketamine (2%). Analgesia was provided to 212 (70%, 95% CI 64.6–75.2), 65 (30.66%, 95% CI 24.5–37.3) with ATS 2, 85 (40%, 95% CI 33.4–47) with ATS 3 and 62 (29.2%, 95% CI 23.2–35.8) with ATS 4. A total of 44 patients (20.7%, 95% CI 15.5–26.8) with mild, 101 (47.6%, 95% CI 40.7–54.6) with moderate and 60 (28.3%, 95% CI 22.3–34.8) with severe pain received analgesics. Conclusion Time to analgesia for triage score 2 is lower compared to higher triage score. However, a large proportion of patients still do not receive analgesia. This is likely addressed by using a combination of strategies.

Trauma is a major and increasing global health concern in the recent world. It is now the leading cause of death among people less than 18 years old. The aim of this study is to analyze all injuries from trauma-related causes among children and adolescents under 18 years old of age.This is a retrospective cross sectional study done in Emergency Department of B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences. Patients aged less than 16 years were included with history of trauma from January 1st 2013 to 31st December 2013.The details of patient were taken from computerized medical records of the hospital. The demographic data, pattern of injury, mode of injury, diagnosis and outcomes were tabulated in Microsoft Excel.Total 3958 pediatrics patient were enrolled in this study with Male: Female=3.6:1 and Mean age 9.6±3.2 years. The common modes of injury were fall injury 2596 (65.6%) and RTAs 1176 (29.7%). Whereas the commonest patters were Fractures 1385 (35%) and Soft Tissue Injuries 784 (19.8%).Fall Injury and Road Traffic Accidents are major and serious problem for children in Low Income countries like Nepal.

Background Foreign body ingestion is seen quite frequently in clinical practice, intestinal perforation due to this is rare. The foreign body often mimics another cause of acute abdomen and requires an emergency surgical intervention. The majority of patients do not recall ingesting sharp foreign bodies. Case presentation We report an interesting case of a fifty five year-old man who presented with pain in the right iliac fossa with localised tenderness which was clinically diagnosed as acute appendicitis. During the operation, the presence of purulent collection and the inflamed bowel with flakes raised suspicion of bowel perforation. The assessment of the proximal small bowel revealed two small perforations in the jejunum. A hard, bony and sharp object was extracted and the perforations were closed. Post-operative recovery was uneventful. Detailed food history was taken following the recovery of the patient from surgery. It revealed the history ingestion of home prepared buffalo meat. The extracted object was identified as ‘buffalo bone’ by the patient and the care taker of the patient. The jejunum was perforated by the ingested buffalo bone causing local peritonitis in right iliac fossa. Conclusion Intestinal perforation by ingested foreign bodies should be suspected in acute abdomen. It requires a high degree of suspicion and awareness on the part of the clinician. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13104-016-2127-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Dapsone (4, 4’-diaminophenylsulfone), a sulfonamide derivative, was introduced in 1943 as an effective chemotherapeutic agent for leprosy and still is an important drug for the treatment of this disease. Because of its use in various conditions, its toxicity is commonly seen in adults but rare in children. Rapid clinical assessment, measurement of methemoglobin and institution of methylene blue where indicated decreases the morbidity and mortality of dapsone poisoning. We report a case of 2 year old female with accidental ingestion of 20 tablets (20gm) of dapsone.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/hren.v12i1.11988Health Renaissance 2014;12(1):52-54

Additional file 1. Care case report timeline.

Nepal is a least developed country, with limited healthcare resources. An 18 month Fellowship in Emergency Medicine has contributed some improvements to care. This study assessed time to first analgesia in higher and lower acuity patients.A prospective observational study of 101 patients in each of the Australasian Triage Scale (ATS) 2, 3 and 100 in ATS 4 was undertaken at B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences. Convenience sampling was used coinciding with researcher's duty hours. Pain scores and time to analgesia were recorded.A total of 302 patients were included. The doctors identified pain in 274 (90%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 86.74-93.65), severity recorded in 92 (30.5%, 95% CI 25-36). Median time from triage to analgesia was 30 min (interquartile range [IQR] 15-60) for ATS 2 patients, 60 min (IQR 40-70) for ATS 3 and 69 min (IQR 45-116) for ATS 4. Tramadol was the analgesic used most commonly (33%), followed by diclofenac (25%), morphine (16%), paracetamol (14%) and ketamine (2%). Analgesia was provided to 212 (70%, 95% CI 64.6-75.2), 65 (30.66%, 95% CI 24.5-37.3) with ATS 2, 85 (40%, 95% CI 33.4-47) with ATS 3 and 62 (29.2%, 95% CI 23.2-35.8) with ATS 4. A total of 44 patients (20.7%, 95% CI 15.5-26.8) with mild, 101 (47.6%, 95% CI 40.7-54.6) with moderate and 60 (28.3%, 95% CI 22.3-34.8) with severe pain received analgesics.Time to analgesia for triage score 2 is lower compared to higher triage score. However, a large proportion of patients still do not receive analgesia. This is likely addressed by using a combination of strategies.

Background Penetrating orbital injuries pose a serious threat to vision, ocular motility, and in some cases, life. The setting and causes of eye injury are diverse, but previous studies have demonstrated that the risk and type of injury is often correlated with age, gender, and race. Pediatric ocular injury is often accidental and may be preventable. A focused history and prompt ocular examination are essential to immediate management. Case presentation This article describes a case of protruding foreign body-related penetrating orbit injury with a retained foreign body in a 4-year-old male from a town in the eastern part of Nepal. The child presented to the emergency with foreign body in situ without receiving any pre emergency care without any medical attendance. The patient was managed with non-operative removal of foreign body in the emergency. The case discussion will review the initial presentation, examination, resultant management decisions, and final outcome. Conclusion Foreign body presentations may be diverse and non-operative management may be considered in selected cases. Resource availability and conditions at presentations may also influence the management decisions. This case presentation has described such a scenario in developing country like Nepal and is expected to be interest across various medical specialties.

Background Impalement injury is an uncommon presentation in the emergency department (ED), and penetrating thoraco-abdominal injuries demand immediate life-saving measures and prompt care. Massive penetrating trauma by impalement in a pediatric case represents a particularly challenging presentation for emergency providers in non-trauma center settings. Case presentation We report a case of 10 year old male who presented in our ED with an alleged history of fall from an approximately 15 foot tall coconut tree, landing over an upright bamboo stake approximately 50 centimeter long, resulting in a trans-abdomino, trans-thoracic injury. In addition to prompt resuscitation and hospital transfer, assessment of damage to vital structures in conjunction with surgical specialty consultation was an immediate goal. Conclusion This article describes a case study of an impalement injury, relevant review of the available literature, and highlights the peculiar strategies required in the setting of a resource limited ED.

Background Poisoning is a common presentation in the emergency department. Oral exposures to organophosphorus compounds are especially frequent in rural and agricultural regions of South Asia and throughout the developing world. Case presentation Here we report a case of deliberate self-harm with an organophosphorus pesticide via the relatively uncommon parenteral route. A young woman injected herself with chlorpyriphos. Although the cholinergic effects were mild, cellulitis and abscess development were noted as a result. Conclusion Resource limited agricultural countries like Nepal present health care workers with numerous challenges in poisoning management. This case represents a rare but potentially morbid method of agrochemical poison exposure.