Skip to content
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Menu
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Menu
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
medicine
Development of a surgical capacity index: Opportunities for assessment and improvement
World Journal of Surgery, Volume 36, No. 2, Year 2012
Notification
URL copied to clipboard!
Description
Background: Significant gaps exist in the provision of surgical care in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The purpose of this study was to develop a metric to monitor surgical capacity in LMICs. Methods: The World Health Organization developed a survey called the Tool for Situational Analysis to Assess Emergency and Essential Surgical Care. Using this tool, we developed a surgical capacity scoring index and assessed its usefulness with data from Sierra Leone, Liberia, and the Solomon Islands. Results: There were data from 10 hospitals in Sierra Leone, 16 hospitals in Liberia, and 9 hospitals in the Solomon Islands. The levels of surgical capacity were created using our scoring index based on a possible 100 points: level 1 for hospitals with <50 points, level 2 with 50-70 points, level 3 with 70-80 points, and level 4 with >80 points. In Sierra Leone, 44% of the hospitals had a surgical capacity rating of level 1, 50% level 2, and 10% level 3. In Liberia, 37.5% of the hospitals had a surgical capacity rating of level 1, 56.3% level 2, and only one hospital level 3. For Sierra Leone and Liberia, two factors-infrastructure and personnel-had the greatest deficits. In the Solomon Islands, 44.4% of the hospitals had their surgical capacity rated at level 1, 22.2% at level 2, 11.1% at level 3, and 22.2% at level 4. Conclusions: Pending pilot testing for reliability and validity, it appears that a systematic hospital surgical capacity index can identify areas for improvement and provide an objective measure for monitoring changes over time. © 2011 Société Internationale de Chirurgie.
Authors & Co-Authors
Kwon, Steve
United States, Seattle
University of Washington
Kingham, Thomas Peter
United States, New York
Memorial Sloan-kettering Cancer Center
United States, New York
Surgeons Overseas Sos
Kamara, Thaim Buya
Sierra Leone, Freetown
Connaught Hospital
Sherman, Lawrence M.
Liberia, Monrovia
Firestone Hospital
Natuzzi, Eileen
United States, San Diego
Scripps Memorial Hospital
Mock, Charles N.
United States, Seattle
University of Washington
Kushner, Adam L.
United States, New York
Surgeons Overseas Sos
United States, New York
Columbia University
Statistics
Citations: 21
Authors: 7
Affiliations: 7
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1007/s00268-011-1385-z
ISSN:
03642313
e-ISSN:
14322323
Research Areas
Health System And Policy
Study Design
Cross Sectional Study
Study Approach
Quantitative
Study Locations
Liberia
Sierra Leone