Demographic Profile and Characteristics of Hand Surgery Patients in the Tertiary Care Center.

Abstract

Introduction: The hand’s functional and characteristic uses permit it to perform various tasks, while also making it prone to injury. Hand injury is one of the most common encounters at the emergency department, most being attributed to occupational use. While most occupational trauma is accidental, it may also be subject to infections and overuse injuries. Severity in both may range from minor laceration or inflammation to finger or limb amputation. Prompt infection control and injury management are the key to adequate recovery and regain of movement. Due lack of data collection and publications of hand injury pattern in Nepal, very less is known about hand injury parttern and treatment in our country. Our study aimed to study the prevalence and etiologies of of hand surgery cases at a tertiary care center.

Methods: A retrospective descriptive cross-sectional study of patients who presented with a hand injury at a tertiary care center was done for 15 months from 1st August 2022 to 30th November 2023. After obtaining ethical approval, data like demographics, mode of injury, and course of treatment. Descriptive analysis was done where frequency and percentage were calculated.

Results: Total 68 cases of hand injuries presented at our center during the period, surgery comprising 2% of the total surgeries performed at our department. The most common presentation was acute hand injury with 60%of patients affected with soft tissue involvement (92.7%) in young male (67.6%) patients with a mean age of 35.4 years.

Conclusion: Trauma is the most frequent cause of hand injury. Hand Injuries occurred mostly in young males which is a productive population. As most of the hand injuries occurred during work-related activities in the productive age group, it is essential to examine safety measures at the workplace.