Community Health Needs Assessment: Traumatic disabilities in Jazan, Saudi Arabia.
Introduction
According to the World Health Organization. Regional Office for Europe. (2001), Community health needs assessment is a critical practice that describes the state of health of community people. It identifies significant risk factors and causes of illnesses among individuals and consequently identifies actions needed to address the health issues. It is not the final solution to health problems but preferably using relevant information to plan health care and public health programs in the latter days. According to Patten et al. (2019), Community health needs assessment entails collecting relevant information on health issues among individuals, describing the action plan, planning health care programs to address the health issues, implementing the planned action, and finally, evaluation of health outcomes.
Chahal et al. 2018, argue that the Jazan area in Saudi Arabia, like many other areas worldwide, faces several health issues, including traumatic disabilities being a serious one. Traumatic refers to any physical injury to the body, which may result from violence or an accident. It also refers to severe emotional or mental distress caused by an absurd situation or incidence. For instance, a rape incidence makes someone understand constant psychological distress. Therefore it is essential to carry out a community health needs assessment in the Jazan region to assess the impact of traumatic disabilities among the residents and develop health programs to address the health issues.
The Observational experience
The community health needs assessment involves health experts and health researchers identifying the target population area with a severe health problem and conduct the researcher to address the issue (Bindawas & Vennu, 2018). This entails observing the physical environment in which people live, such as the quality of the air they breathe and the water they use. The social climate about the support they receive from family members and friends should be observed. Observation should also entail the poverty levels of the community, behavior, and lifestyle of the people. Moreover, family genetics and individual biology should also be observed. An observational study on traumatic disabilities was supposed to be carried out in the Jazan region in Saudi Arabia in October 2020 to evaluate its traumatic effects on individuals. However, due to the current Covid-19 pandemic situation, it wasn’t easy to conduct the community health need assessment. The study had to rely on already published sources about traumatic disabilities among the Jazan region residents.
According to a recent study conducted in Saudi Arabia, one person is killed, and four people are injured every hour due to traumatic causes. About 80%-85% of traumas in Saudi Arabia country can be attributed to road traffic accidents. Therefore, hospitalization as a result of trauma is highest in Saudi Arabia. These patients require long term rehabilitation care as a result of residual injury. Worldwide, injuries from road traffic accidents are the second leading cause of disabilities. Alharbi et al. (2020) argue that about 1.2 million people are killed every year through road traffic accidents, and approximately 50 million people get injured through accidents every year. Trauma accounts for 12.2% of the total burden of diseases, according to the world health report of 2002. This shows that the issue of trauma is a severe health problem that requires health care attention. A study was carried out in Jazan general hospital emergency department to determine the traumatic patterns of individuals attending the healthcare facility.
The analysis was conducted on 1050 patients with different types of trauma (Alharbi et al., 2020). Their mean age was 25.3, with the range of 1-80 years. Majority aged between 18-30 years (45.1%). Of the total population, 64.3% were male. About 60% of the patients complained about minor injuries. Those who suffered from blunt trauma due to road traffic accidents were 30.9%, whereas 5.9% suffered from stabbing trauma. About 52.2% of the patients arrived at the hospital facility between 30-60 minutes after the trauma. Minor traumas accounted for 60%, with multiple concussions accounting for 23.4% and head trauma 6.3%. An estimated death rate of 2.6% of this series was noted.
Conclusion
According to the community health needs assessment conducted in Jazan general hospital, trauma is the leading cause of disability and preventable death. It accounts for 10% of the global mortality rates. Trauma majorly affects young and middle-aged people, unlike other chronic diseases that affect people at an advanced age. The male gender is more liable to trauma as compared to their female counterparts. The majority of patient trauma is as a result of road traffic accidents.
Recommendations
Traumatic disabilities among individuals in the Jazan region and worldwide is a threat to human lives, and it requires a protracted intervention from the health sector. First of all, the traumatic patients should be subject to pre-hospital interventions after any trauma. Due to the estimated high levels of trauma disabilities among Jazan region residents, there is a greater potential need for rehabilitation centers. Rehabilitation plays a greater role in helping trauma disabled patients recover quickly and live meaningful lives. Rehabilitation will help patients recover quickly and at an estimated low healthcare cost.
There is a need for more equipped and resourced rehabilitation centers to be established within Jazan community settings and facilities such as primary health care centers, schools, workplaces, or home-care therapy services. The rehabilitation should be affordable to the people living within the region. The rehabilitation centers should have frequent individual and group counseling sections. Therapists should help traumatic disabled patients avoid negative feelings and behaviors and help them live good and sober lives. The rehabilitation program should include medical, nutritional therapy (MNT). Patients should be served nutritious foods while in rehabilitation, which serves as part of treatment. The rehabilitation centers should include a shred of evidence-based fitness program. Different forms of exercise offer additional benefits to the patients and help them recover quickly. Research reveals that regular exercise releases stress and tension and therefore makes individuals release negative emotions.
Moreover, the rehabilitation center should be equipped with qualified health professionals and specialists in employment, education, social welfare, among other fields. There is a need for extra wheelchairs within rehabilitation centers to help patients with injuries stay comfortable. Finally, the rehabilitation centers should be stocked with enough drugs to administer to traumatic patients. Medications are important for healing and reducing pain. Therefore, more equipped rehabilitation centers should be established within the Jazan region to help traumatic patients recover quickly and save more lives.
References
Alharbi, J., Lewis, V., Mosley, I. & Miller, C. (2020).”Current trauma care system in Saudi Arabia: a scoping literature review. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 144, 105653. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2020.105653
Bindawas, M. & Vennu, V. (2018). The national and regional prevalence rates of disability, type, disability, and severity in Saudi Arabia analyze the 2016 demographic survey data. International journal of environmental research and public health 15 (3), 419. https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/3/419#
Chahal, A., Qasheesh, M., Shalaby, S., Shaphe, A., Hany, M., Berg, A., Chaudhuri, P., Malhotra, N. & Kirmani, J. (2019).”A cumulative physiotherapy education program assessment at Jazan University: Need for a healthy society in Saudi Arabia. A retrospective study.”NAAS Journal Score, 12(2): 317-323. DOI: 10.21786/bbrc/12.2/14
Patten, A., Albertie, L., Chamie, A., Brockman, A., Gorfine, M., Nicholas, R., Bock, J., Okamoto, M., Penheiter, G. & Balls-Berry, E. (2019). Addressing community health needs through community engagement research advisory boards. Journal of clinical and translational science 3 (2-3), 125-128. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/cts.2019.366
World Health Organization. Regional Office for Europe. (2001). Community health needs assessment: an introductory guide for the family health nurse in Europe. Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for Europe. https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/108440
Zakaria, M., Hokkam, E., Gonna, A. & Zakaria, O. (2015). Trauma patterns in patients attending the Emergency Department of Jazan General Hospital, Saudi Arabia.
World Journal of Emergency Medicine, 6,(1): 48-53
DOI: 10.5847/wjem.j.1920-8642.2015.01.009