Anaesthesia and global health initiatives for children in a low-resource environment

Hodges, Sarah

doi:10.1097/aco.0000000000000319

Cited by 9 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 7 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The challenges in LMICs that make providing quality anesthesia care difficult and contribute to the high mortality are many and are magnified when considering the provision of anesthesia care to children (Table 1). There is a lack of trained anesthesia providers in many of these countries and, by extension, pediatric anesthesia providers [6][7][8]. A recent survey of anesthesia providers globally reported that in countries classified by the World Bank as low-income, the density of physician anesthesia providers (PAPs) is only 0.19 per 100,000.…”

Section: Insufficient Numbers Of Anesthesia Providers and Training Pr...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Delivery of Safe Pediatric Anesthesia Care in the First 8000 days: Realities, Challenges, and Solutions in Low‐ and Middle‐Income Countries

Powell,

Echeto‐Cerrato,

Gathuya

et al. 2023

World j. surg.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Worldwide, perioperative mortality has declined over the past 50 years, but the reduction is skewed toward high-income countries (HICs). Currently, pediatric perioperative mortality is much higher in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) compared to HICs, despite studied cohorts being predominantly low-risk. These disparities must be studied and addressed. Methods A narrative review of the literature was undertaken to identify contributing factors and potential knowledge gaps. Interventions aimed at alleviating the outcomes disparities are discussed, and recommendations are made for future directions. Results and conclusions There is a lack of adequately trained pediatric anesthesia providers in LMICs, and the number must be bolstered by making such training available. Essential anesthesia medications and equipment, in pediatric-appropriate sizes, are often not available; neither are essential infrastructure items. Perioperative staff are underprepared for emergent situations that may arise and simulation training may help to ameliorate this. The global anesthesia community has implemented several solutions to address these issues. The World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists (WFSA) and Global Initiative for Children's Surgery have published standards that outline essential items for the provision of safe perioperative pediatric care. Several short educational courses have been developed and introduced in LMICs that either specifically address pediatric patients, or contain a pediatric component. The WFSA also maintains a collection of discrete tutorials for educational purposes. Finally, in Africa, largescale, prospective data collection is underway to examine pediatric perioperative outcomes. More work needs to be done, though, to improve perioperative outcomes for pediatric patients in LMICs.

show abstract

Section: Insufficient Numbers Of Anesthesia Providers and Training Pr...mentioning

confidence: 99%