The use of antibiotics in the intensive care unit of a tertiary hospital in Malawi.

BACKGROUND: Antibiotic resistance is on the rise. A contributing factor to antibiotic resistance is the misuse of antibiotics in hospitals. The current use of antibiotics in ICUs in Malawi is not well documented and there are no national guidelines for the use of antibiotics in ICUs. The aim of the study was to describe the use of antibiotics in a Malawian ICU. METHODS: A retrospective review of medical records of all admissions to the main ICU in Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi, between January 2017 and April 2019. Data were extracted from the ICU patient register on clinical parameters on admission, diagnoses, demographics and antibiotics both prescribed and given for all patients admitted to the ICU. Usage of antibiotics in the ICU and bacterial culture results from samples taken in the ICU and in the peri-ICU period, (from 5 days before ICU admission to 5 days after ICU discharge), were described. RESULTS: Six hundred-and-forty patients had data available on prescribed and received medications and were included in the analyses. Of these, 577 (90.2%) were prescribed, and 522 (81.6%) received an antibiotic in ICU. The most commonly used antibiotics were ceftriaxone, given to 470 (73.4%) of the patients and metronidazole to 354 (55.3%). Three-hundred-and-thirty-three (52.0%) of the patients received more than one type of antibiotic concurrently - ceftriaxone and metronidazole was the most common combination, given to 317 patients. Forty five patients (7.0%) were given different antibiotics sequentially. One-hundred-and-thirty-seven patients (21.4%) had a blood culture done in the peri-ICU period, of which 70 (11.0% of the patients) were done in the ICU. Twenty-five (18.3%) of the peri-ICU cultures were positive and eleven different types of bacteria were grown in the cultures, of which 17.2% were sensitive to ceftriaxone. CONCLUSION: We have found a substantial usage of antibiotics in an ICU in Malawi. Ceftriaxone, the last-line antibiotic in the national treatment guidelines, is commonly used, and bacteria appear to show high levels of resistance to it, although blood culture testing is infrequently used. Structured antibiotic stewardship programs may be useful in all ICUs.

Doctors' experiences of referring and admitting patients to the intensive care unit: a qualitative study of doctors' practices at two tertiary hospitals in Malawi.

OBJECTIVE: To explore doctors' experiences of referring and admitting patients to the intensive care unit (ICU) at two tertiary hospitals in Malawi. DESIGN: This was a qualitative study that used face-to-face interviews. The interviews were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim into English. The data were analysed manually through conventional content analysis. SETTING: Two public tertiary hospitals in the central and southern regions of Malawi. Interviews were conducted from January to June 2021. PARTICIPANTS: Sixteen doctors who were involved in the referral and admission of patients to the ICU. RESULTS: Four themes were identified namely, lack of clear admission criteria, ICU admission requires a complex chain of consultations, shortage of ICU resources, and lack of an ethical and legal framework for discontinuing treatment of critically ill patients who were too sick to benefit from ICU. CONCLUSION: Despite the acute disease burden and increased demand for ICU care, the two hospitals lack clear processes for referring and admitting patients to the ICU. Given the limited bed space in ICUs, hospitals in low-income countries, including Malawi, need to improve or develop admission criteria, severity scoring systems, ongoing professional development activities, and legislation for discontinuing intensive care treatments and end-of-life care.

Towards definitions of critical illness and critical care using concept analysis.

OBJECTIVE: As 'critical illness' and 'critical care' lack consensus definitions, this study aimed to explore how the concepts' are used, describe their defining attributes, and propose potential definitions. DESIGN AND METHODS: We used the Walker and Avant approach to concept analysis. The uses and definitions of the concepts were identified through a scoping review of the literature and an online survey of 114 global clinical experts. We used the Arksey and O'Malley framework for scoping reviews and searched in PubMed and Web of Science with a strategy including terms around critical illness/care and definitions/etymologies limited to publications in English between 1 January 2008 and 1 January 2020. The experts were selected through purposive sampling and snowballing, with 36.8% in Africa, 25.4% in Europe, 22.8% in North America, 10.5% in Asia, 2.6% in South America and 1.8% in Australia. They worked with anaesthesia or intensive care 59.1%, emergency care 15.8%, medicine 9.5%, paediatrics 5.5%, surgery 4.7%, obstetrics and gynaecology 1.6% and other specialties 3.9%. Through content analysis of the data, we extracted codes, categories and themes to determine the concepts' defining attributes and we proposed potential definitions. To assist understanding, we developed model, related and contrary cases concerning the concepts, we identified antecedents and consequences to the concepts, and defined empirical referents. RESULTS: Nine and 13 articles were included in the scoping reviews of critical illness and critical care, respectively. A total of 48 codes, 14 categories and 4 themes were identified in the uses and definitions of critical illness and 60 codes, 13 categories and 5 themes for critical care. The defining attributes of critical illness were a high risk of imminent death; vital organ dysfunction; requirement for care to avoid death; and potential reversibility. The defining attributes of critical care were the identification, monitoring and treatment of critical illness; vital organ support; initial and sustained care; any care of critical illness; and specialised human and physical resources. The defining attributes led to our proposed definitions of critical illness as, 'a state of ill health with vital organ dysfunction, a high risk of imminent death if care is not provided and the potential for reversibility', and of critical care as, 'the identification, monitoring and treatment of patients with critical illness through the initial and sustained support of vital organ functions.' CONCLUSION: The concepts critical illness and critical care lack consensus definitions and have varied uses. Through concept analysis of uses and definitions in the literature and among experts, we have identified the defining attributes of the concepts and proposed definitions that could aid clinical practice, research and policy-making.

Unmet need of essential treatments for critical illness in Malawi.

BACKGROUND: Critical illness is common throughout the world and has been the focus of a dramatic increase in attention during the COVID-19 pandemic. Severely deranged vital signs such as hypoxia, hypotension and low conscious level can identify critical illness. These vital signs are simple to check and treatments that aim to correct derangements are established, basic and low-cost. The aim of the study was to estimate the unmet need of such essential treatments for severely deranged vital signs in all adults admitted to hospitals in Malawi. METHODS: We conducted a point prevalence cross-sectional study of adult hospitalized patients in Malawi. All in-patients aged ≥18 on single days Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH) and Chiradzulu District Hospital (CDH) were screened. Patients with hypoxia (oxygen saturation <90%), hypotension (systolic blood pressure <90mmHg) and reduced conscious level (Glasgow Coma Scale <9) were included in the study. The a-priori defined essential treatments were oxygen therapy for hypoxia, intravenous fluid for hypotension and an action to protect the airway for reduced consciousness (placing the patient in the lateral position, insertion of an oro-pharyngeal airway or endo-tracheal tube or manual airway protection). RESULTS: Of the 1135 hospital in-patients screened, 45 (4.0%) had hypoxia, 103 (9.1%) had hypotension, and 17 (1.5%) had a reduced conscious level. Of those with hypoxia, 40 were not receiving oxygen (88.9%). Of those with hypotension, 94 were not receiving intravenous fluids (91.3%). Of those with a reduced conscious level, nine were not receiving an action to protect the airway (53.0%). CONCLUSION: There was a large unmet need of essential treatments for critical illness in two hospitals in Malawi.

Emergency and critical care services in Malawi: Findings from a nationwide survey of health facilities.

Background: Globally, critical illness causes up to 45 million deaths every year. The burden is highest in low-income countries such as Malawi. Critically ill patients require good quality, essential care in emergency departments and in hospital wards to avoid negative outcomes such as death. Little is known about the quality of care or the availability of necessary resources for emergency and critical care in Malawi. The aim of this study was to assess the availability of resources for emergency and critical care in Malawi using data from the Service Provision Assessment (SPA). Methods: We conducted a secondary data analysis of the SPA - a nationwide survey of all health facilities. We assessed the availability of resources for emergency and critical care using previously developed standards for hospitals in low-income countries. Each health facility received an availability score, calculated as the proportion of resources that were present. Resource availability was sub-divided into the seven a-priori defined categories of drugs, equipment, support services, emergency guidelines, infrastructure, training and routines. Results: Of the 254 indicators in the standards necessary for assessing the quality of emergency and critical care, SPA collected data for 102 (40.6%). Hospitals had a median resource availability score of 51.6% IQR (42.2-67.2) and smaller health facilities had a median of 37.5% (IQR 28.1-45.3). For the category of drugs, the hospitals' median score was 62.0% IQR (52.4-81.0), for equipment 51.9% IQR (40.7-66.7), support services 33.3% IQR (22.2-77.8) and emergency guidelines 33.3% IQR (0-66.7). SPA did not collect any data for resources in the categories of infrastructure, training or routines. Conclusion: Hospitals in Malawi lack resources for providing emergency and critical care. Increasing data about the availability of resources for emergency and critical care and improving the hospital systems for the care of critically ill patients in Malawi should be prioritized.

The Prevalence and Outcomes of Sepsis in Adult Patients in Two Hospitals in Malawi.

There are an estimated 19.4 million sepsis cases every year, many of them in low-income countries. The newly adopted definition of sepsis uses Sequential Organ Failure Assessment Score (SOFA), a score which is not feasible in many low-resource settings. A simpler quick-SOFA (qSOFA) based solely on vital signs score has been devised for identification of suspected sepsis. This study aimed to determine in-hospital prevalence and outcomes of sepsis, as defined as suspected infection and a qSOFA score of 2 or more, in two hospitals in Malawi. The secondary aim was to evaluate qSOFA as a predictor of mortality. A cross-sectional study of adult in-patients in two hospitals in Malawi was conducted using prospectively collected single-day point-prevalence data and in-hospital follow-up. Of 1,135 participants, 81 (7.1%) had sepsis. Septic patients had a higher hospital mortality rate (17.5%) than non-septic infected patients (9.0%, p = 0.027, odds ratio 2.1 [1.1-4.3]), although the difference was not statistically significant after adjustment for baseline characteristics. For in-hospital mortality among patients with suspected infection, qSOFA ≥ 2 had a sensitivity of 31.8%, specificity of 82.1%, a positive predictive value of 17.5%, and a negative predictive value of 91.0%. In conclusion, sepsis is common and is associated with a high risk of death in admitted patients in hospitals in Malawi. In low-resource settings, qSOFA score that uses commonly available vital signs data may be a tool that could be used for identifying patients at risk-both for those with and without a suspected infection.

Inability to Walk Predicts Death among Adult Patients in Hospitals in Malawi.

OBJECTIVE: Vital signs are often used in triage, but some may be difficult to assess in low-resource settings. A patient's ability to walk is a simple and rapid sign that requires no equipment or expertise. This study aimed to determine the predictive performance for death of an inability to walk among hospitalized Malawian adults and to compare its predictive value with the vital signs-based National Early Warning Score (NEWS). METHODS: It is a prospective cohort study of adult in-patients on selected days in two hospitals in Malawi. Patients were asked to walk five steps with close observation and their vital signs were assessed. Sensitivities, specificities, and predictive values for in-patient death of an inability to walk were calculated and an inability to walk was compared with NEWS. RESULTS: Four-hundred and forty-three of the 1094 participants (40.5%) were unable to walk independently. In this group, 70 (15.8 %) died in-hospital compared to 16 (2.5%) among those who could walk: OR 7.4 (95% CI 4.3-13.0 p<0.001). Inability to walk had a sensitivity for death of 81.4%, specificity of 63.0%, positive predictive value (PPV) of 15.8%, and negative predictive value (NPV) of 97.5%. NEWS>6 had sensitivity 70.9%, specificity 70.6%, PPV 17.1%, and NPV 96.6%. An inability to walk had a fair concordance with NEWS>6 (kappa 0.21). CONCLUSION: Inability to walk predicted mortality as well as NEWS among hospitalized adults in Malawi. Patients who were able to walk had a low risk of death. Walking ability could be considered an additional vital sign and may be useful for triage.