Automobile Accidents Attended by Mobile Emergency Care Service

Background: Automobile accidents are increasing every day and are becoming a serious public health problem due to the high morbidity and mortality rate. The goal of the current study was to characterise the traffic accidents attended by the Mobile Emergency Care Service (MECS) in Ibiara, PB.\udMethods: This exploratory, descriptive, documentary study adopted a quantitative approach and analysis of data. The population consisted of all victims of traffic accidents attended by MECS in the city of Ibiara, PB, from June 2015 to June 2016. The following variables were studied: age, gender, time and day of the week the accident occurred, nature of the incident, substance ingested by the victim, wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) or not, the anatomical lesions on the victim and the body regions hit during the accident.\udResults: The sample consisted of 49 accident victims, and the majority (81.6%) were male, predominately 30 to 59 years. Events occurring at night (63.3%) and during the week (65.3%) predominated. The most frequent type of accident was motorcycle fall (71.4%), with almost half having consumed alcohol (46.9%) and most not wearing PPE (77.6%). The regions of the body most affected were the lower limbs (67.3%) and upper limbs (53.1%).\udConclusion: The main factor/cause of these accidents was due to imprudence and violation of traffic laws, highlighting the need to invest in traffic education policies, to direct campaigns for the prevention of traffic accidents, as well as expand the surveillance of traffic laws by authorities