Operationalising emergency care delivery in sub-Saharan Africa: consensus-based recommendations for healthcare facilities.

A major barrier to successful integration of acute care into health systems is the lack of consensus on the essential components of emergency care within resource-limited environments. The 2013 African Federation of Emergency Medicine Consensus Conference was convened to address the growing need for practical solutions to further implementation of emergency care in sub-Saharan Africa. Over 40 participants from 15 countries participated in the working group that focused on emergency care delivery at health facilities. Using the well-established approach developed in the WHO's Monitoring Emergency Obstetric Care, the workgroup identified the essential services delivered-signal functions-associated with each emergency care sentinel condition. Levels of emergency care were assigned based on the expected capacity of the facility to perform signal functions, and the necessary human, equipment and infrastructure resources identified. These consensus-based recommendations provide the foundation for objective facility capacity assessment in developing emergency health systems that can bolster strategic planning as well as facilitate monitoring and evaluation of service delivery.

Applying the lessons of maternal mortality reduction to global emergency health.

Over the last few decades, maternal health has been a major focus of the international community and this has resulted in a substantial decrease in maternal mortality globally. Although, compared with maternal illness, medical and surgical emergencies account for far more morbidity and mortality, there has been less focus on global efforts to improve comprehensive emergency systems. The thoughtful and specific application of the concepts used in the effort to decrease maternal mortality could lead to major improvements in global emergency health services. The so-called three-delay model that was developed for maternal mortality can be adapted to emergency service delivery. Adaptation of evaluation frameworks to include emergency sentinel conditions could allow effective monitoring of emergency facilities and further policy development. Future global emergency health efforts may benefit from incorporating strategies for the planning and evaluation of high-impact interventions.

Au cours des dernières décennies, la santé maternelle a figuré en bonne place dans les priorités de la communauté internationale et cela s'est traduit par une baisse considérable de la mortalité maternelle au niveau mondial. Or, même si la morbidité et la mortalité liées aux urgences médicales et chirurgicales sont bien plus élevées comparativement à celles associées aux pathologies maternelles, les efforts menés au niveau mondial pour améliorer les systèmes de soins d'urgence dans leur intégralité attirent beaucoup moins d'attention. Une application réfléchie et spécifique des concepts employés dans l'effort de réduction de la mortalité maternelle pourrait entraîner des améliorations notables au sein des services de santé d'urgence au niveau mondial. Le modèle dit « des trois retards ¼, conçu pour la mortalité maternelle, peut être transposé à la prestation des soins d'urgence. L'adaptation des cadres d'évaluation pour y inclure des critères-sentinelles évocateurs des cas d'urgence vitale pourraient permettre une surveillance efficace des centres d'urgences et la conception de politiques complémentaires. Les futurs efforts consacrés aux systèmes de soins d'urgence au niveau mondial pourraient également bénéficier de l'intégration de stratégies pour la planification et l'évaluation d'interventions à fort impact.

A lo largo de las últimas décadas, la salud materna ha sido un foco importante de la comunidad internacional y esto ha llevado a una disminución considerable de la mortalidad materna a nivel mundial. Aunque, en comparación con las enfermedades de la madre, las emergencias médicas y quirúrgicas son una causa mucho más importante de morbilidad y mortalidad, se ha puesto menos atención en los esfuerzos mundiales para mejorar los sistemas integrales de emergencia. La aplicación profunda y específica de los conceptos utilizados en el intento de disminuir la mortalidad materna puede llevar a mejoras importantes de los servicios sanitarios de emergencia mundiales. El denominado modelo de tres retrasos que se desarrolló para la mortalidad materna se puede adaptar a la prestación de servicios de emergencia. La adaptación de los marcos de evaluación para incluir condiciones centinela de emergencia podría permitir una supervisión efectiva de las instalaciones de emergencia y la elaboración de políticas adicionales. Los esfuerzos futuros en la sanidad de emergencia mundial podrían beneficiarse de la incorporación de estrategias para la planificación y evaluación de intervenciones de gran impacto.

Perceptions of emergency care in Kenyan communities lacking access to formalised emergency medical systems: a qualitative study.

OBJECTIVES: We undertook this study in Kenya to understand the community's emergency care needs and barriers they face when trying to access care, and to seek community members' thoughts regarding high impact solutions to expand access to essential emergency services. DESIGN: We used a qualitative research methodology to conduct 59 focus groups with 528 total Kenyan community member participants. Data were coded, aggregated and analysed using the content analysis approach. SETTING: Participants were uniformly selected from all eight of the historical Kenyan provinces (Central, Coast, Eastern, Nairobi, North Eastern, Nyanza, Rift Valley and Western), with equal rural and urban community representation. RESULTS: Socioeconomic and cultural factors play a major role both in seeking and reaching emergency care. Community members in Kenya experience a wide range of medical emergencies, and seem to understand their time-critical nature. They rely on one another for assistance in the face of substantial barriers to care-a lack of: system structure, resources, transportation, trained healthcare providers and initial care at the scene. CONCLUSIONS: Access to emergency care in Kenya can be improved by encouraging recognition and initial treatment of emergent illness in the community, strengthening the pre-hospital care system, improving emergency care delivery at health facilities and creating new policies at a national level. These community-generated solutions likely have a wider applicability in the region.