Integration of Chronic Oncology Services in Noncommunicable Disease Clinic in Rural Rwanda.
Ann Glob Health
; 86(1): 33, 2020 03 23.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-32257833
ABSTRACT
Background:
In rural sub-Saharan Africa, access to care for severe non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is limited due to myriad delivery challenges. We describe the implementation, patient characteristics, and retention rate of an integrated NCD clinic inclusive of cancer services at a district hospital in rural Rwanda.Methods:
In 2006, the Rwandan Ministry of Health at Rwinkwavu District Hospital (RDH) and Partners In Health established an integrated NCD clinic focused on nurse-led care of severe NCDs, within a single delivery platform. Implementation modifications were made in 2011 to include cancer services. For this descriptive study, we abstracted medical record data for 15 months after first clinic visit for all patients who enrolled in the NCD clinic between 1 July 2012 and 30 June 2014. We report descriptive statistics of patient characteristics and retention.Results:
Three hundred forty-seven patients enrolled during the study period oncology - 71.8%, hypertension - 10.4%, heart failure - 11.0%, diabetes - 5.5%, and chronic respiratory disease (CRD) - 1.4%. Twelve-month retention rates were oncology - 81.6%, CRD - 60.0%, hypertension - 75.0%, diabetes - 73.7%, and heart failure - 47.4%.Conclusions:
The integrated NCD clinic filled a gap in accessible care for severe NCDs, including cancer, at rural district hospitals. This novel approach has illustrated good retention rates.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Outpatient Clinics, Hospital
/
Primary Health Care
/
Rural Population
/
Practice Patterns, Nurses'
/
Noncommunicable Diseases
/
Retention in Care
/
Medical Oncology
/
Neoplasms
Type of study:
Prognostic_studies
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Child
/
Child, preschool
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Infant
/
Male
/
Middle aged
/
Newborn
Country/Region as subject:
Africa
Language:
En
Journal:
Ann Glob Health
Year:
2020
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Rwanda