Clinical activity at the UK military level 2 hospital in Bentiu, South Sudan during Op TRENTON from June to September 2017

• Published in: BMJ military health Vol. 167; no. 5; pp. 304 - 309
• Main Authors: Bailey, Mark S, Gurney, I, Lentaigne, J, Biswas, J S, Hill, N E
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England British Medical Journal Publishing Group 01.10.2021; BMJ Publishing Group LTD
• Subjects: acute gastroenteritis; Age; Data collection; Diarrhea; disease and non-battle injuries; Emergency medical care; Family physicians; fever of unknown origin; Gastroenteritis; Hospitals; Humanitarianism; Illnesses; Injuries; Laboratories; Malaria; Medicine; Military deployment; Military personnel; Original research; Patients; south sudan; Task forces; Toxicology; Trauma; Afghanistan; Iraq; United Kingdom > UK; South Sudan; Sudan; fever of unknown origin; disease and non-battle injuries; acute gastroenteritis; malaria; south sudan; military personnel
• ISSN: 2633-3767; 2633-3775; 2052-0468
• DOI: 10.1136/jramc-2018-001154

IntroductionDiseases and non-battle injuries (DNBIs) are common on UK military deployments, but the collection and analysis of clinically useful data on these remain a challenge. Standard medical returns do not provide adequate clinical information, and clinician-led approaches have been laudable, but not integrated nor standardised nor used long-term. Op TRENTON is a novel UK military humanitarian operation in support of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan, which included the deployment of UK military level 1 and level 2 medical treatment facilities at Bentiu to provide healthcare for UK and United Nations (UN) personnel.MethodsA service evaluation of patient consultations and admissions at the UK military level 2 hospital was performed using two data sets collected by the emergency department (ED) and medicine (MED) teams.ResultsOver a three-month (13-week) period, 286 cases were seen, of which 51% were UK troops, 29% were UN civilians and 20% were UN troops. The ED team saw 175 cases (61%) and provided definitive care for 113 (40%), whereas the MED team saw and provided definitive care for 128 cases (45%). Overall, there were 75% with diseases and 25% with non-battle injuries. The most common diagnoses seen by the ED team were musculoskeletal injuries (17%), unidentified non-malarial undifferentiated febrile illness (UNMUFI) (17%), malaria (13%), chemical pneumonitis (13%) and wounds (8%). The most common diagnoses seen by the MED team were acute gastroenteritis (AGE) (56%), UNMUFI (12%) and malaria (9%). AGE was due to viruses (31%), diarrhoeagenic Escherichia coli (32%), other bacteria (6%) and protozoa (12%).ConclusionData collection on DNBIs during the initial phase of this deployment was clinically useful and integrated between different departments. However, a standardised, long-term solution that is embedded into deployed healthcare is required. The clinical activity recorded here should be used for planning, training, service development and targeted research.