Inguinal hernia constitute a minor surgical pathology which is very frequent and whose diagnosis is simple but surgical treatment should not be delayed.
During our hospital placements, we were struck by the lateness with some patients, suffering from inguinal hernia for over one year, were coming for consultation leading to a difficult care taking of patients. Faced with this problem, we have decided to conduct a study on “pre-hospital causes of late care taking of inguinal hernia” at the Bertoua Regional Hospital. From where the research question: what are the pre-hospitals causes that hinder the care taking of inguinal hernias? To answer this question we raised a main objective which is to contribute to the reduction of delays in the care taking of inguinal hernia in the population of our study area.
We conducted a descriptive study over a period of 7 months (October 2012-April 2013) on a series of 30 cases of inguinal hernia, collected at the surgical ward in the Bertoua Regional Hospital and two other structures. To collect this data we made a questionnaire with 21 questions.
After analysis of these results of the survey, we noticed that:
– Majority of respondents know the definition and symptoms of inguinal hernia while there is late care taking.
– The main reasons mentioned here is the lack of means, the distance and the lack of symptoms.
Given the evolving character of this pathology as shown by complications such as strangulation, a particular emphasis should be laid on IEC to the population and to the native doctors in relation to care taking of inguinal hernias.