A simple 'tally sheet' system for collecting information on the paediatric utilisation of a western Cape day hospital.

This paper describes a simple 'tally sheet' system for collecting information on the paediatric utilisation of Bishop Lavis Day Hospital. of 2,053 children seen over a 7-week period in August and September 1988, the details of 1,971 (96%) were entered on the tally sheets; age and weight were documented in 1,915 (97%) cases. Only 19 patients (1%) were neonates, 370 (19%) were aged under 1 year, 1,092 (57%) 1-6 years and 453 (24%) 6-13 years. One hundred and ninety-eight children (10%) had a weight for age less than the 3rd percentile and 646 (34%) a weight between the 3rd and 25th percentiles; 505 (26%) were between the 25th and 50th percentiles and 566 (30%) above the 50th percentile. Nursing personnel alone saw and treated 1,067 (52%) of the children and the commonest conditions treated were upper respiratory tract infections (31%) and infective and non-infective skin conditions (18%). A similar system could be used to evaluate other aspects of health care.