Background: Delivery of emergency surgical care remains a challenge in much of Sub-Saharan Africa, with physician shortages in Uganda resulting in only one surgeon per 100,000 people. Emergency units in Uganda receive emergency surgical patients, but it is unknown how great of a burden these emergency surgical patients represent in terms of total number, care required, or outcomes.

Methods: We performed a retrospective review of a quality assurance database for all patients treated at two emergency units in Uganda from 2009-2019. Patients were defined as “surgical” if they were admitted directly to the operating theatre, received a surgical diagnosis, or received an emergency surgical procedure as identified by the Disease Control Priorities 3 (DCP3) group. We generated descriptive statistics.

Results: Of the 109,999 total patients seen, 24,745 (22.5%) were emergency surgical patients. Surgical patients were predominantly male (71.7%) with a mean age of 34.9 years. Most surgical patients (57.0%) were admitted to the hospital, while 38.9% were discharged, and only 1.7% were sent directly to the operating theatre. In total, 12.1% of all patients seen in the emergency unit received a surgical procedure from a non-physician clinician while in the unit. Of the surgical procedures, the most common were suturing of lacerations (51.8%), urinary catheterization (24.5%), fracture management (16.5%), and incision and drainage of abscesses (6.0%). Among surgical patients, the most common surgical diagnoses were for fractures (30.9%), lacerations (29.6%), and abscesses (8.8%). The overall three-day mortality for emergency surgical patients was 2.8%.

Conclusion: Emergency surgical patients are common in Ugandan emergency units, where emergent surgical procedures are commonly performed by non-physician clinicians. Strengthening system capacity for emergency surgical patients should also consider emergency unit resources.