Postnatal care education in health facilities in Accra, Ghana: perspectives of mothers and providers.

BACKGROUND: The recent use of antenatal care (ANC) has steadily improved in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), but postnatal care (PNC) has been widely underutilized. Most maternal and newborn deaths occur during the critical postnatal period, but PNC does not receive adequate attention or support, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. In Ghana, the majority of mothers attend four ANC assessments, but far fewer receive the four recommended PNC visits. This study sought to understand perceptions toward PNC counselling administered prior to discharge among both mothers and healthcare providers in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. METHODS: Facility assessments were conducted among 13 health facilities to determine the number and type of deliveries, staffing, timing of discharge following delivery and the PNC schedule. Structured interviews were conducted for 172 mothers over four-months in facilities, which included one regional hospital, four district hospitals, and eight sub-district level hospitals. Additionally, healthcare providers from 12 of the 13 facilities were interviewed. Data were analyzed with Chi-square or students t-test, as appropriate, with p < 0.05 considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Ninety-nine percent of mothers received PNC instructions prior to hospital discharge, the majority of which were given in a group format. Mothers in the regional hospital were significantly more likely to have been informed about maternal danger signs but were less likely to know the PNC schedule than were mothers in district and sub-district facilities. No mother recalled more than four maternal or five newborn danger signs. Thirty-eight percent of facilities did not have PNC guidelines. Most patient and providers reported positive attitudes toward the level of PNC education, however, knowledge was inconsistent regarding the number and timing of PNC visits as well as other critical information. Only 23% of patients reported having a contact number to call for concerns. CONCLUSIONS: Despite overall positive feelings toward PNC among Ghanaian mothers and providers, there are significant gaps in PNC education that must be addressed in order to recognize problems and to prevent serious complications. Improvements in pre-discharge PNC counseling should be provided in Ghana to give mothers and babies a better chance at survival in the critical postnatal period.

Establishing Obstetric Anesthesiology Practice Guidelines in the Republic of Armenia: A Global Health Collaboration.

BACKGROUND: Disparity exists in anesthesia practices between high- and low-to-middle income countries, and awareness has been raised within the global health community to improve the standards of anesthesia care and patient safety. The establishment of international collaborations and appropriate practice guidelines may help address clinical care deficiencies. This report's aim was to assess the impact of a multiyear collaboration on obstetric anesthesia practices in the Republic of Armenia. METHODS: An invited multinational team of physicians conducted six visits to Armenia between 2006 and 2015 to observe current practice and establish standards of obstetric anesthesia care. The Armenian Society of Anaesthesiologists and Intensive Care specialists collected data on the numbers of vaginal delivery, cesarean delivery, and neuraxial anesthesia use in maternity units during the period. Data were analyzed with the Fisher exact or chi-square test, as appropriate. RESULTS: Neuraxial anesthesia use for cesarean delivery increased significantly (P < 0.0001) in all 10 maternity hospitals within the capital city of Yerevan. For epidural labor analgesia, there was sustained or increased use in only two hospitals. For hospitals located outside the capital city, there was a similar increase in the use of neuraxial anesthesia for cesarean delivery that was greater in hospitals that were visited by an external team (P < 0.0001); however, use of epidural labor analgesia was not increased significantly. Over the course of the collaboration, guidelines for obstetric anesthesia were drafted and approved by the Armenian Ministry of Health. CONCLUSIONS: Collaboration between Armenian anesthesiologists and dedicated visiting physicians to update and standardize obstetric anesthesia practices led to national practice guidelines and sustained improvements in clinical care in the Republic of Armenia.

The third delay: understanding waiting time for obstetric referrals at a large regional hospital in Ghana.

BACKGROUND: Delay in receiving care significantly contributes to maternal morbidity and mortality. Much has been studied about reducing delays prior to arrival to referral facilities, but the delays incurred upon arrival to the hospital have not been described in many low- and middle-income countries. METHODS: We report on the obstetric referral process at Ridge Regional Hospital, Accra, Ghana, the largest referral hospital in the Ghana Health System. This study uses data from a prospectively-collected cohort of 1082 women presenting with pregnancy complications over a 10-week period. To characterize which factors lead to delays in receiving care, we analyzed wait times based on reason for referral, time and day of arrival, and concurrent volume of patients in the triage area. RESULTS: The findings show that 108 facilities refer patients to Ridge Regional Hospital, and 52 facilities account for 90.5% of all transfers. The most common reason for referral was fetal-pelvic size disproportion (24.3%) followed by hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (9.8%) and prior uterine scar (9.1%). The median arrival-to-evaluation (wait) time was 40 min (IQR 15-100); 206 (22%) of women were evaluated within 10 min of arrival. Factors associated with longer wait times include presenting during the night shift, being in latent labour, and having a non-time-sensitive risk factor. The median time to be evaluated was 32 min (12-80) for women with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and 37 min (10-66) for women with obstetric hemorrhage. In addition, the wait time for women in the second stage of labour was 30 min (12-79). CONCLUSIONS: Reducing delay upon arrival is imperative to improve the care at high-volume comprehensive emergency obstetric centers. Although women with time-sensitive risk factors such as hypertension, bleeding, fever, and second stage of labour were seen more quickly than the baseline population, all groups failed to be evaluated within the international standard of 10 min. This study emphasizes the need to improve hospital systems so that space and personnel are available to access high-risk pregnancy transfers rapidly.

Global health partnerships: building multi-national collaborations to achieve lasting improvements in maternal and neonatal health.

BACKGROUND: In response to health care challenges worldwide, extensive funding has been channeled to the world's most vulnerable health systems. Funding alone is not sufficient to address the complex issues and challenges plaguing these health systems. To see lasting improvement in maternal and infant health outcomes in the developing world, a global commitment to the sharing of knowledge and resources through international partnerships is critical. But partnerships that merely introduce western medical techniques and protocols to low resource settings, without heeding the local contexts, are misguided and unsustainable. Forming partnerships with mutual respect, shared vision, and collaborative effort is needed to ensure that all parties, irrespective of whether they belong to resource rich or resource poor settings, learn from each other so that meaningful and sustained system strengthening can take place. METHODS: In this paper, we describe the partnership building model of an international NGO, Kybele, which is committed to achieving childbirth safety through sustained partnerships in low resource settings. The Kybele model adapts generic stages of successful partnerships documented in the literature to four principles relevant to Kybele's work. A multiple-case study approach is used to demonstrate how the model is applied in different country settings. RESULTS: The four principle of Kybele's partnership model are robust drivers of successful partnerships in diverse country settings. CONCLUSIONS: Much has been written about the need for multi-country partnerships to achieve sustainable outcomes in global health, but few papers in the literature describe how this has been achieved in practice. A strong champion, support and engagement of stakeholders, co-creation of solutions with partners, and involvement of partners in the delivery of solutions are all requirements for successful and sustained partnerships.

Teaching neuraxial anesthesia techniques for obstetric care in a Ghanaian referral hospital: achievements and obstacles.

Anesthesia providers in low-income countries may infrequently provide regional anesthesia techniques for obstetrics due to insufficient training and supplies, limited manpower, and a lack of perceived need. In 2007, Kybele, Inc. began a 5-year collaboration in Ghana to improve obstetric anesthesia services. A program was designed to teach spinal anesthesia for cesarean delivery and spinal labor analgesia at Ridge Regional Hospital, Accra, the second largest obstetric unit in Ghana. The use of spinal anesthesia for cesarean delivery increased significantly from 6% in 2006 to 89% in 2009. By 2012, >90% of cesarean deliveries were conducted with spinal anesthesia, despite a doubling of the number performed. A trial of spinal labor analgesia was assessed in a small cohort of parturients with minimal complications; however, protocol deviations were observed. Although subsequent efforts to provide spinal analgesia in the labor ward were hampered by anesthesia provider shortages, spinal anesthesia for cesarean delivery proved to be practical and sustainable.

Implementation matters: assessing the effectiveness and sustainment of an obstetric triage program at a high-volume facility in Ghana.

BACKGROUND: Maternal mortality remains stubbornly high in Ghana. Current national efforts are focused on improving the quality of care offered in health facilities. Obstetric triage is one intervention that has been proposed to improve the timeliness and appropriateness of care, two key elements of quality. In this study, we describe and evaluate a theory-based implementation approach to introduce obstetric triage into Tema General Hospital, a high-volume maternity hospital in Greater Accra, that blends concepts from implementation science and quality improvement. This implementation project was a first attempt to scale this intervention into a new facility, following initial development in the Greater Accra Regional Hospital (formerly Ridge Hospital) in Accra. METHODS: This was a retrospective mixed-methods evaluation of two stages of implementation: active implementation and sustainment. We triangulated monitoring data captured during active implementation with clinical outcome data (timeliness of first assessment, accuracy of diagnosis, and appropriateness of care plan) from direct observation or patient obstetric triage assessment forms at baseline, at the completion of the active implementation stage, and following a 12-month "washout" period with no contact between hospital staff and the purveyor organization. Finally, we assessed embeddedness of the new triage procedures using the NoMad, a quantitative assessment of constructs from normalization process theory (NPT). RESULTS: Patient waiting time decreased substantially during the study. At baseline, the median arrival-to-assessment waiting time was 70.5 min (IQR: 30.0-443.0 min). Waiting time decreased to 6.0 min (IQR: 3.0-15.0 min) following active implementation and to 5.0 min (IQR: 2.0-10.0 min) during the sustainment period. Accuracy of diagnosis was high at the end of active implementation (75.7% correct) and improved during the sustainment period (to 77.9%). The appropriateness of care plans also improved during the sustainment period (from 66.0 to 78.9%). Per NoMad data, hospital staff generally perceive obstetric triage to be well integrated into the facility. CONCLUSIONS: This theory-based implementation approach proved to be successful in introducing a novel obstetric triage concept to a busy high-volume hospital, despite resource constraints and a short implementation window. Results proved long-lasting, suggesting this approach has high potential for engendering sustainability in other facilities as well. Our approach will be useful to other initiatives that aim to utilize program data to create and test implementation theories.

Use of WhatsApp messaging technology to strengthen obstetric referrals in the Greater Accra Region, Ghana: Findings from a feasibility study.

In Ghana, the high-risk obstetric referral system is inadequate. Delay is common and patients often arrive to receiving hospitals in compromised states. An effective referral system should include an adequately resourced referral hospital, communication across sectors, accountability, transport, monitoring capability and policy support, which are currently lacking. A pilot program was undertaken to facilitate communication between hospital staffs. Additionally, data was collected to better understand and characterize obstetric referrals in Accra. Thirteen institutions were selected based on referral volume to implement the use of pre-referral treatment guidelines and WhatsApp as a mobile technology communication platform (Platform). Participants included healthcare workers from 8 health centers, 4 district hospitals, the Greater Accra Regional Hospital (GARH), administrators, doctors from other tertiary hospitals in Accra and medical consultants abroad. Facilities were provided smartphones and guidelines on using WhatsApp for advice on patient care or referral. Data were collected on WhatsApp communications among participants (March-August 2017). During this period, 618 cases were posted on the Platform and users increased from 69 to 81. The median response time was 17 min, a receiving hospital was identified 511 (82.7%) times and pre-referral treatment was initiated in 341 (55.2%). Subsequently, data collected on 597 referrals to GARH (September-November 2017) included 319 (53.4%) from Platform and 278 (46.6%) from non-Platform hospitals. Of these, 515 (86.3%) were urgent referrals; the median (interquartile range) referral to arrival time was 293 (111-1887) minutes without variation by facility grouping. Taxis were utilized for transportation in 80.2%; however, referral time shortened when patients arrived by ambulance and with a midwife. Only 23.5% of urgent referrals arrived within two hours. This project demonstrates that WhatsApp can be used as a communication tool for high-risk obstetric referrals and highlights the need to continue to improve urban referral processes due to identified delays which may contribute to poor outcomes.

A protocol for evaluating a multi-level implementation theory to scale-up obstetric triage in referral hospitals in Ghana.

BACKGROUND: Ghana significantly reduced maternal and newborn mortality between 1990 and 2015, largely through efforts focused on improving access to care. Yet achieving further progress requires improving the quality and timeliness of care. Beginning in 2013, Ghana Health Service and Kybele, a US-based non-governmental organization, developed an innovative obstetric triage system to help midwives assess, diagnosis, and determine appropriate care plans more quickly and accurately. In 2019, efforts began to scale this successful intervention into six additional hospitals. This protocol describes the theory-based implementation approach guiding scale-up and presents the proposed mixed-methods evaluation plan. METHODS: An implementation theory was developed to describe how complementary implementation strategies would be bundled into a multi-level implementation approach. Drawing on the Interactive Systems Framework and Evidenced Based System for Implementation Support, the proposed implementation approach is designed to help individual facilities develop implementation capacity and also build a learning network across facilities to support the implementation of evidence-based interventions. A convergent design mixed methods approach will be used to evaluate implementation with relevant data drawn from tailored assessments, routinely collected process and quality monitoring data, textual analysis of relevant documents and WhatsApp group messages, and key informant interviews. Implementation outcomes of interest are acceptability, adoption, and sustainability. DISCUSSION: The past decade has seen a rapid growth in the development of frameworks, models, and theories of implementation, yet there remains little guidance on how to use these to operationalize implementation practice. This study proposes one method for using implementation theory, paired with other kinds of mid-level and program theory, to guide the replication and evaluation of a clinical intervention in a complex, real-world setting. The results of this study should help to provide evidence of how implementation theory can be used to help close the "know-do" gap. Every woman and every newborn deserves a safe and positive birth experience. Yet in many parts of the world, this goal is often more aspiration than reality. In 2006, Kybele, a US-based non-governmental organization, began working with the Ghanaian government to improve the quality of obstetric and newborn care in a large hospital in Greater Accra. One successful program was the development of a triage system that would help midwives rapidly assess pregnant women to determine who needed what kind of care and develop risk-based care plans. The program was then replicated in another large hospital in the Greater Accra region, where a systematic theory to inform triage implementation was developed. This paper describes the extension of this approach to scale-up the triage program implementation in six additional hospitals. The scale-up is guided by a multi-level theory that extends the facility level theory to include cross-facility learning networks and oversight by the health system. We explain the process of theory development to implement interventions and demonstrate how these require the combination of local contextual knowledge with evidence from the implementation science literature. We also describe our approach for evaluating the theory to assess its effectiveness in achieving key implementation outcomes. This paper provides an example of how to use implementation theories to guide the development and evaluation of complex programs in real-world settings.

The cost-effectiveness of a program to reduce intrapartum and neonatal mortality in a referral hospital in Ghana.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of a program intended to reduce intrapartum and neonatal mortality in Accra, Ghana. DESIGN: Quasi-experimental, time-sequence intervention, retrospective cost-effectiveness analysis. METHODS: A program integrating leadership development, clinical skills and quality improvement training was piloted at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital from 2013 to 2016. The number of intrapartum and neonatal deaths prevented were estimated using the hospital's 2012 stillbirth and neonatal mortality rates as a steady-state assumption. The cost-effectiveness of the intervention was calculated as cost per disability-adjusted life year (DALY) averted. In order to test the assumptions included in this analysis, it was subjected to probabilistic and one-way sensitivity analyses. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER), which measures the cost per disability-adjusted life-year averted by the intervention compared to status quo. RESULTS: From 2012 to 2016, there were 45,495 births at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital, of whom 5,734 were admitted to the newborn intensive care unit. The budget for the systems strengthening program was US $1,716,976. Based on program estimates, 307 (±82) neonatal deaths and 84 (±35) stillbirths were prevented, amounting to 12,342 DALYs averted. The systems strengthening intervention was found to be highly cost effective with an ICER of US $139 (±$44), an amount significantly lower than the established threshold of cost-effectiveness of the per capita gross domestic product, which averaged US $1,649 between 2012-2016. The results were found to be sensitive to the following parameters: DALYs averted, number of neonatal deaths, and number of stillbirths. CONCLUSION: An integrated approach to system strengthening in referral hospitals has the potential to reduce neonatal and intrapartum mortality in low resource settings and is likely to be cost-effective. Sustained change can be achieved by building organizational capacity through leadership and clinical training.

Evaluation of two newborn resuscitation training strategies in regional hospitals in Ghana.

AIM: In Ghana, institutional delivery has been emphasized to improve maternal and newborn outcomes. The Making Every Baby Count Initiative, a large coordinated training effort, aimed to improve newborn outcomes through government engagement and provider training across four regions of Ghana. Two newborn resuscitation training and evaluation approaches are described for front line newborn care providers at five regional hospitals. METHODS: A modified newborn resuscitation program was taught at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital (GARH) and evaluated with real-time resuscitation observations. A programmatic shift, led to a different approach being utilized in Sunyani, Koforidua, Ho and Kumasi South Regional Hospitals. This included Helping Babies Breathe (HBB) and Essential Care for Every Baby (ECEB) training followed by objective structured clinical examinations (OSCE) with manikins at fixed intervals. Data was collected on training outcomes, fresh stillbirth and institutional newborn mortality rates. RESULTS: Training was conducted for 412 newborn care providers. For 120 staff trained at GARH, resuscitation observations and chart review found improvements in conducting positive pressure ventilation. For 292 providers that received HBB and ECEB training, OSCE pass rates exceeded 90%, but follow-up decreased from 98% to 84% over time. A decrease in fresh stillbirth and institutional newborn mortality occurred at GARH (p â€‹< â€‹0.05), but not in the other four regional hospitals. CONCLUSION: Newborn resuscitation training is warranted in low-resource settings; however, the optimal training, monitoring and evaluation approach remains unclear, particularly in referral hospitals. Although, mortality reductions were observed at GARH, this cannot be solely attributed to newborn resuscitation training.

Neostigmine decreases bupivacaine use by patient-controlled epidural analgesia during labor: a randomized controlled study.

BACKGROUND: Intrathecal neostigmine not only produces analgesia but also severe nausea. In contrast, epidural neostigmine enhances opioid and local anesthetic analgesia without causing nausea. Previous studies examined only single epidural neostigmine bolus administration and did not assess the efficacy of continuous epidural infusion or several aspects of maternal and fetal safety. We therefore tested the hypothesis that epidural neostigmine in combination with bupivacaine by continuous infusion during labor would reduce the amount of bupivacaine required. METHODS: Twelve healthy women scheduled for elective cesarean delivery were assigned to receive epidural neostigmine, 40 microg (first six subjects) or 80 microg (second six subjects) as a single bolus, with fetal heart rate (FHR) and uterine contractions monitored for 20 min. In a subsequent experiment, 40 healthy laboring women were randomized to receive bupivacaine 1.25 mg/mL alone or with neostigmine 4 microg/mL by patient-controlled epidural analgesia. The primary outcome measure was hourly bupivacaine use. RESULTS: Epidural neostigmine bolus did not alter baseline FHR, induce contractions, or produce nausea. Epidural neostigmine infusion reduced bupivacaine requirement by 19% in all patients and 25% in those with >4 h of treatment (P < 0.05 for both) but might have contributed to the incidence of mild sedation. Mode of delivery, incidence of maternal nausea, and FHR abnormality were similar between groups. CONCLUSIONS: These data show that adding epidural neostigmine 4 microg/mL reduces the hourly bupivacaine requirement by 19%-25% with patient-controlled epidural analgesia during labor. Administered as a bolus and by continuous infusion at the studied doses, epidural neostigmine does not cause nausea and does not induce uterine contractions or FHR abnormalities, but mild sedation can occur.

Addressing the third delay: implementing a novel obstetric triage system in Ghana.

Institutional delivery has been proposed as a method for reducing maternal morbidity and mortality, but little is known about how referral hospitals in low-resource settings can best manage the expected influx of patients. In this study, we assess the impact of an obstetric triage improvement programme on reducing hospital-based delay in a referral hospital in Accra, Ghana. An Active Implementation Framework is used to describe a 5-year intervention to introduce and monitor obstetric triage capabilities. Baseline data, collected from September to November 2012, revealed significant delays in patient assessment on arrival. A triage training course and monitoring of quality improvement tools occurred in 2013 and 2014. Implementation barriers led to the construction of a free-standing obstetric triage pavilion, opened January 2015, with dedicated midwives. Data were collected at three time intervals following the triage pavilion opening and compared with baseline including: referral indications, patient and labour characteristics, waiting time from arrival to assessment and the documentation of a care plan. An obstetric triage improvement programme reduced the median (IQR) patient waiting time from facility arrival to first assessment by a midwife from 40 min (15-100) to 5 min (2-6) (p<0.001) over the 5-year intervention. The triage pavilion enhanced performance resulting in the elimination of previous delays associated with the time of admission and disease acuity. Care plan documentation increased from 51% to 96%. Obstetric triage, when properly implemented, reduced delay in a busy, low-resource hospital. The implementation process was sustained under local leadership during transition to a new hospital.

Increasing Regional Anesthesia Use in a Serbian Teaching Hospital through an International Collaboration.

Many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) report low rates of regional anesthesia (RA) use for cesarean delivery (CD), despite its association with lower maternal major morbidity and mortality. Also, the prevalence of neuraxial analgesia for labor (NAL) is often low in LMICs. We report on the results of a collaboration in clinical education over a multi-year period between Kybele Inc., an international non-profit organization, and Klinicki Centar Vojvodine (CCV), a teaching hospital in Novi Sad, Serbia, to increase RA use for CD and NAL at CCV. From late 2011 through 2015, teams from Kybele participated in annual to biannual didactic conferences and week-long bedside teaching efforts involving obstetric and anesthesia staff from CCV and surrounding hospitals. Ongoing contact occurred at least weekly between Kybele and the host to discuss progress. De-identified quality improvement data on total deliveries, numbers of elective and non-elective CDs, number of vaginal deliveries, type of anesthesia for CD, and the number of NALs were collected. RA use for CD increased to 25% in year 2015 versus 14% in base year 2011 [odds ratio (OR): 2.05; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.73,2.42; p < 0.001]. NAL increased to 10.5% of laboring women in 2015 versus 1.2% in 2011 (OR: 9.6; 95% CI: 7.2, 12.8; p < 0.001). Greater increases for RA use during non-elective CD were observed between 2011 and 2015 (1.4 versus 7.5% of total CD; OR: 5.52; 95% CI: 2.63, 8.41; p < 0.001) relative to elective CD (12.5 versus 17.5% of total CD; OR: 1.48; 95% CI: 1.23, 1.77; p < 0.001). Overall, RA for CD increased during the 4 year collaboration but was not as great as reported in other countries with similar health-care demographics utilizing a similar program. Detailed descriptions of program interventions and barriers to change at CCV are presented.

The cost effectiveness of a quality improvement program to reduce maternal and fetal mortality in a regional referral hospital in Accra, Ghana.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of a quality improvement intervention aimed at reducing maternal and fetal mortality in Accra, Ghana. DESIGN: Quasi-experimental, time-sequence intervention, retrospective cost-effectiveness analysis. METHODS: Data were collected on the cost and outcomes of a 5-year Kybele-Ghana Health Service Quality Improvement (QI) intervention conducted at Ridge Regional Hospital, a tertiary referral center in Accra, Ghana, focused on systems, personnel, and communication. Maternal deaths prevented were estimated comparing observed rates with counterfactual projections of maternal mortality and case-fatality rates for hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and obstetric hemorrhage. Stillbirths prevented were estimated based on counterfactual estimates of stillbirth rates. Cost-effectiveness was then calculated using estimated disability-adjusted life years averted and subjected to Monte Carlo and one-way sensitivity analyses to test the importance of assumptions inherent in the calculations. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Incremental Cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER), which represents the cost per disability-adjusted life-year (DALY) averted by the intervention compared to a model counterfactual. RESULTS: From 2007-2011, 39,234 deliveries were affected by the QI intervention implemented at Ridge Regional Hospital. The total budget for the program was $2,363,100. Based on program estimates, 236 (±5) maternal deaths and 129 (±13) intrapartum stillbirths were averted (14,876 DALYs), implying an ICER of $158 ($129-$195) USD. This value is well below the highly cost-effective threshold of $1268 USD. Sensitivity analysis considered DALY calculation methods, and yearly prevalence of risk factors and case fatality rates. In each of these analyses, the program remained highly cost-effective with an ICER ranging from $97-$218. CONCLUSION: QI interventions to reduce maternal and fetal mortality in low resource settings can be highly cost effective. Cost-effectiveness analysis is feasible and should regularly be conducted to encourage fiscal responsibility in the pursuit of improved maternal and child health.

Where Are They Now? Evolution of a Nurse Anesthesia Training School in Ghana and a Survey of Graduates.

Ghana, like other countries in sub-Saharan African, has limited access to surgery. One contributing factor is the inadequate number of anesthesia providers. To address this need, Kybele, Inc., a US-based non-governmental organization, partnered with the Ghana Health Service to establish the third nurse anesthesia training school (NATS) in Ghana. The school, based at Ridge Regional Hospital (RRH) in Accra, opened in October 2009. This paper describes the evolution of the training program and presents the curriculum. Second, the results of a voluntary survey conducted among the first four classes of graduates (2011-2014) are presented to determine their perceived strengths and gaps in training and to identify employment locations and equipment availability. Seventy-five of 93 graduates (81%) responded to the survey. The graduates reported working in 39 hospitals across 7 of the 10 regions in Ghana. Six providers (8%) worked alone and 16 (21%) were one of only two providers. Fifty-three providers (71%) had no physician anesthesiologist at their facility. Most providers had access to basic anesthesia equipment; however, there was limited access to emergency airway equipment. While most graduates felt that their training had prepared them for their current positions, 21% reported experiencing a patient death during anesthesia. The NATS at RRH has been sustained and most of the graduates are working in Ghana, filling an important void. Quality improvement and continuing education must be emphasized in an effort to reduce surgical morbidity and mortality in Ghana.

Measuring the impact of a quality improvement collaboration to decrease maternal mortality in a Ghanaian regional hospital.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the performance of a continuous quality improvement collaboration at Ridge Regional Hospital, Accra, Ghana, that aimed to halve maternal and neonatal deaths. METHODS: In a quasi-experimental, pre- and post-intervention analysis, system deficiencies were analyzed and 97 improvement activities were implemented from January 2007 to December 2011. Data were collected on outcomes and implementation rates of improvement activities. Severity-adjustment models were used to calculate counterfactual mortality ratios. Regression analysis was used to determine the association between improvement activities, staffing, and maternal mortality. RESULTS: Maternal mortality decreased by 22.4% between 2007 and 2011, from 496 to 385 per 100000 deliveries, despite a 50% increase in deliveries and five- and three-fold increases in the proportion of pregnancies complicated by obstetric hemorrhage and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, respectively. Case fatality rates for obstetric hemorrhage and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy decreased from 14.8% to 1.6% and 3.1% to 1.1%, respectively. The mean implementation score was 68% for the 97 improvement processes. Overall, 43 maternal deaths were prevented by the intervention; however, risk severity-adjustment models indicated that an even greater number of deaths was averted. Mortality reduction was correlated with 26 continuous quality improvement activities, and with the number of anesthesia nurses and labor midwives. CONCLUSION: The implementation of quality improvement activities was closely correlated with improved maternal mortality.

The effects of resource improvement on decision-to-delivery times for cesarean deliveries in a Ghanaian regional hospital.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effects of having a dedicated obstetric operating room (OR) on the decision-to-delivery interval (DDI) in a large referral hospital in Ghana. METHODS: An observational study was undertaken of all patients undergoing cesarean delivery at Ridge Regional Hospital, Accra, before (pre-OR; August-September 2011) and after (post-OR; August-September 2012) introduction of an obstetric OR. The primary outcome was the DDI. RESULTS: In total, 581 cesareans were performed in the pre-OR period and 574 in the post-OR period. Overall, the median DDI decreased from 259 min (interquartile range [IQR] 161-432) in the pre-OR period to 195 min (IQR 138-319) in the post-OR period (P<0.001). DDI was lower in the post-OR period than in the pre-OR period for both emergency (175 min [IQR 126-241] vs 220 min [IQR 146-315]; P<0.001) and elective (1828 min [IQR 1432-2985] vs 4291 min [IQR 2992-5862]; P<0.001) cesarean deliveries. Only one emergency cesarean-in the post-OR period-was conducted within the recommended 30-minute timeframe. CONCLUSION: An obstetric OR lowered the DDI for cesarean delivery; however, a realistic timeframe for emergency cesareans in low-income countries remains to be determined.

Dural puncture with a 27-gauge Whitacre needle as part of a combined spinal-epidural technique does not improve labor epidural catheter function.

BACKGROUND: This prospective, double-blind, randomized study was designed to examine whether the combined spinal-epidural technique without subarachnoid drug administration improved epidural catheter function when compared with the traditional epidural technique. METHODS: After institutional review board approval and informed consent, 251 healthy laboring parturients were randomly assigned to either group DP (combined spinal-epidural technique with 27-gauge Whitacre needle dural puncture but without subarachnoid drug administration) or group NoDP (traditional epidural technique). Patient-controlled epidural analgesia was initiated with 0.11% bupivacaine and 2 microg/ml fentanyl. Top-up doses in 5-ml increments of 0.25% bupivacaine were administered if needed. Previous power analysis revealed that a sample size of 108 patients/group was needed to show a clinically useful reduction of the catheter manipulation rate from 32% to 15%. RESULTS: In groups DP and NoDP, 107 and 123 evaluable patients, respectively, completed the study. Demographics and outcome variables measured, including epidural catheter manipulation and replacement rate, sacral sparing, unilateral block, number of top-up doses, average hourly epidural drug usage, highest sensory blockade level, and labor analgesia quality, were not different between groups. A subgroup of 18 patients without cerebral spinal fluid return during dural puncture had a higher catheter replacement rate than those of groups DP and NoDP, but it did not reach statistical significance. CONCLUSIONS: Dural puncture with a 27-gauge Whitacre needle without subarachnoid drug administration during combined spinal-epidural labor analgesia did not improve epidural labor analgesia quality or reduce catheter manipulation or replacement rate when compared with a traditional epidural technique.

Can ropivacaine and levobupivacaine be used as test doses during regional anesthesia?

BACKGROUND: Lower systemic toxicity reported with ropivacaine and levobupivacaine may produce less reliable recognition of inadvertent intravenous injection during regional anesthesia. This study was undertaken to determine whether ropivacaine and levobupivacaine are suitable for use as intravenous test doses by evaluating central nervous system (CNS) symptoms after intravenous bolus injection. METHODS: Institutional approval and informed consent were granted for the study. One hundred twenty patients scheduled to undergo elective surgery were randomly assigned to receive 5 ml intravenous saline, 100 mg lidocaine, 25 mg ropivacaine, or 25 mg levobupivacaine before anesthesia. Patients reported CNS symptoms after injection and were monitored for hemodynamic change. RESULTS: Intravenous ropivacaine or levobupivacaine produced CNS symptoms in only 52% and 57% of patients, respectively, compared with 87% of patients after lidocaine (P < 0.02). Despite preparatory instruction, many patients receiving ropivacaine or levobupivacaine did not spontaneously volunteer symptoms because they were subtle and admitted symptoms only after in-depth questioning by the investigator. CONCLUSIONS: Plain ropivacaine and levobupivacaine (25 mg) solutions are unsuitable for use as intravenous test doses during regional anesthesia because CNS symptoms are insufficient. When using ropivacaine or levobupivacaine for regional anesthesia, for test dose purposes, the authors recommend the addition of epinephrine to the local anesthetic solution or the use of a separate agent with more predictable CNS characteristics.

Ropivacaine 0.075% and bupivacaine 0.075% with fentanyl 2 microg/mL are equivalent for labor epidural analgesia.

UNLABELLED: Fifty percent effective dose estimates for ropivacaine and bupivacaine suggest that ropivacaine is 40% less potent than bupivacaine to initiate labor analgesia. At clinically used concentrations, however, the drugs seem indistinguishable for initiating and maintaining labor analgesia. We designed this study to evaluate a concentration near the reported 50% effective dose values for ropivacaine and bupivacaine in an attempt to detect differences between the drugs during routine clinical use. Fifty-nine nulliparous women in labor were randomized to receive 0.075% ropivacaine or bupivacaine, each with fentanyl 2 microg/mL. After epidural placement and the administration of a lidocaine/epinephrine test dose, 20 mL of study solution was administered and a patient-controlled epidural infusion was initiated with the following settings: 6 mL/h basal rate, 5 mL bolus, 10 min lockout, and 30 mL/h limit. Breakthrough pain was treated with 10-mL boluses of study solution. By using a study design to detect a 40% difference in hourly drug use between groups, we found no statistically significant differences in the amount of local anesthetic used, verbal pain scores, sensory levels, motor blockade, labor duration, mode of delivery, side effects, or patient satisfaction. We conclude that 0.075% ropivacaine and bupivacaine, with fentanyl, are equally effective for labor analgesia using the patient-controlled epidural analgesia technique. IMPLICATIONS: At small concentrations, ropivacaine and bupivacaine when combined with fentanyl are equally effective for labor analgesia. Patients self-administered similar volumes of 0.075% ropivacaine or bupivacaine solutions containing fentanyl (2 microg/mL) suggesting that at this concentration, and with the addition of fentanyl, ropivacaine and bupivacaine can be used interchangeably.