MEDICAL HELP-SEEKING BEHAVIOR OF INJURY PATIENTS IN A COMMUNITY IN BANGLADESH

While looking for a valid source of injury information in developing c ountries, it is important to know the help-seeking pattern of injury p atients. II population-based study of 3258 households was conducted to explore the flow of injury patients in a local area of Bangladesh. Tr ained field level health workers collected the information by face-to- face interviews with the head of households, using three pretested str uctured forms. A total of 191 injury cases and 18 injury deaths were i dentified with a reference period of 15 d and 5 y, respectively. The e stimated annual incidence rate of injury is 311 per 1000 inhabitants p er year. The majority of the injury cases were minor (70.7%) and occur red in the home area (42%) or workplace (42%). Of the total 19 injured people, 41 (21.5%) did not seek any type of treatment for their injur y but almost all of these cases were simple. Only 23.3% of injury case s who sought any type of medical treatment, went to the hospital. All severe cases, 40% of the moderate cases, and only 12.5% of minor cases were attended to at a hospital for treatment of their injuries. Allop athic quack or medicine shop owners were consulted by 42% of the injur y patients. Most of the educated people preferred hospital treatment f or moderate injury cases. in injury deaths, 61.1% had no opportunity t o receive treatment before death, and postmortem examinations were per formed in 66.7% of cases.