Surgical Assessment Tool for Ethiopia National Policy Monitoring & Evaluation

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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Introduction: A baseline assessment of surgical capacity is recommended as a first-step to inform national policy on surgical system strengthening. In Ethiopia, the World Health Organization's Situational Analysis Tool (WHO SAT) was adapted to assess surgical capacity as part of a national initiative: Saving Lives Through Safe Surgery (SaLTS). This study describes the process of adapting this tool and initial results. Methods: The new tool was used to evaluate fourteen hospitals in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region of Ethiopia between February and March 2017. Two analytic methods were employed. To compare this data to international metrics, the WHO Service Availability and Readiness Assessment (SARA) framework was used. To assess congruence with national policy, data was evaluated against Ethiopian SaLTS targets.

Official Title
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Development of a Surgical Assessment Tool for National Policy Monitoring & Evaluation in Ethiopia: A Quality Improvement Study

Conditions
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Global Surgery, Health System, Health Planning, Global Anesthesia, Public Health

Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Fourteen public hospitals (11 primary, 1 general, and 2 specialized) chosen by the regional health bureau Hospital staff with willingness to participate in study Hospital staff with availability to participate in study Exclusion Criteria: Hospital staff which did not volunteer to participate or refused to participate were excluded. Hospital staff not available at the time of visit Hospitals not chosen by the regional health bureau
Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| General service readiness | Measured by the number of hospital beds, major operating rooms, surgical/anesthesia/and obstetric providers, and basic infrastructure availability | Cross-Sectional, assesses availability of this infrastructure within the past year in general | 
| Basic surgery readiness | Readiness for surgical services was assessed based on the presence of tracer items identified by WHO/USAID Service Availability and Readiness Assessment (SARA) as particularly important for providing basic surgical services. The service specific readiness score is defined as the mean availability of service specific tracer items in three domains (staff and training, equipment, and medicines and commodities). | Cross-Sectional, assesses availability of tracer items within the past year in general | 
| Comprehensive surgery readiness | Readiness for surgical services was assessed based on the presence of additional tracer items identified by WHO/USAID Service Availability and Readiness Assessment (SARA) as necessary to provide comprehensive surgical services, beyond those needed for basic surgery. | Cross-Sectional, assesses availability of tracer items within the past year in general |