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Key bottlenecks to the provision of safe obstetric anaesthesia in low- income countries; a cross-sectional survey of 64 hospitals in Uganda

Overview of attention for article published in BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, November 2017
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About this Attention Score

  • In the top 25% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (87th percentile)
  • Good Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (76th percentile)

Mentioned by

blogs
1 blog
twitter
3 X users
wikipedia
1 Wikipedia page

Citations

dimensions_citation
23 Dimensions

Readers on

mendeley
153 Mendeley
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Title
Key bottlenecks to the provision of safe obstetric anaesthesia in low- income countries; a cross-sectional survey of 64 hospitals in Uganda
Published in
BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, November 2017
DOI 10.1186/s12884-017-1566-3
Pubmed ID
Authors

Isabella Epiu, Agnes Wabule, Andrew Kambugu, Harriet Mayanja-Kizza, Jossy Verel Bahe Tindimwebwa, Gerald Dubowitz

Abstract

Despite recent advances in surgery and anaesthesia which significantly improve safety, many health facilities in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) remain chronically under-resourced with inability to cope effectively with serious obstetric complications (Knight et al., PLoS One 8:e63846, 2013). As a result many of these countries still have unacceptably high maternal and neonatal mortality rates. Recent data at the national referral hospitals in East Africa reported that none of the national referral hospitals met the World Federation of Societies of Anesthesiologists (WFSA) international standards required to provide safe obstetric anaesthesia (Epiu I: Challenges of Anesthesia in Low-and Middle-Income Countries. WFSA; 2014 http://wfsa.newsweaver.com/Newsletter/p8c8ta4ri7a1wsacct9y3u?a=2&p=47730565&t=27996496 ). In spite of this evidence, factors contributing to maternal mortality related to anaesthesia in LMICs and the magnitude of these issues have not been comprehensively studied. We therefore set out to assess regional referral, district, private for profit and private not-for profit hospitals in Uganda. We conducted a cross-sectional survey at 64 government and private hospitals in Uganda using pre-set questionnaires to the anaesthetists and hospital directors. Access to the minimum requirements for safe obstetric anaesthesia according to WFSA guidelines were also checked using a checklist for operating and recovery rooms. Response rate was 100% following personal interviews of anaesthetists, and hospital directors. Only 3 of the 64 (5%) of the hospitals had all requirements available to meet the WFSA International guidelines for safe anaesthesia. Additionally, 54/64 (84%) did not have a trained physician anaesthetist and 5/64 (8%) had no trained providers for anaesthesia at all. Frequent shortages of drugs were reported for regional/neuroaxial anaesthesia, and other essential drugs were often lacking such as antacids and antihypertensives. We noted that many of the anaesthesia machines present were obsolete models without functional safety alarms and/or mechanical ventilators. Continuous ECG was only available in 3/64 (5%) of hospitals. We conclude that there is a significant lack of essential equipment for the delivery of safe anaesthesia across this region. This is compounded by the shortage of trained providers and inadequate supervision. It is therefore essential to strengthen anaesthesia services by addressing these specific deficiencies. This will include improved training of associate clinicians, training more physician anaesthetists and providing the basic equipment required to provide safe and effective care. These services are key components of comprehensive emergency obstetric care and anaesthetists are crucial in managing critically ill mothers and ensuring good surgical outcomes.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 3 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 153 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 153 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Master 27 18%
Student > Bachelor 18 12%
Researcher 16 10%
Student > Ph. D. Student 15 10%
Other 8 5%
Other 26 17%
Unknown 43 28%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Medicine and Dentistry 52 34%
Nursing and Health Professions 25 16%
Social Sciences 9 6%
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science 3 2%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 2 1%
Other 10 7%
Unknown 52 34%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 14. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 08 January 2024.
All research outputs
#2,592,122
of 25,159,758 outputs
Outputs from BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
#695
of 4,696 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#54,011
of 444,040 outputs
Outputs of similar age from BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
#21
of 86 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,159,758 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 89th percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 4,696 research outputs from this source. They typically receive more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 9.3. This one has done well, scoring higher than 85% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 444,040 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done well, scoring higher than 87% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 86 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 76% of its contemporaries.