Investments in surgical systems contribute to pandemic readiness and health system resilience

Abstract

Safe surgical care, including anesthesia, obstetrics, and trauma, is an essential component of a functional health system, yet five billion people lack access to high-quality, timely and affordable surgical care. As health decision makers are grappling with how to make appropriate investments for crisis readiness and resilience, investments in surgical care should be considered for their compounding benefits to meet a country’s diverse health goals. National Surgical, Obstetric, and Anesthesia Plans (NSOAPs) are developed through global partnerships and multi-stakeholder consensus and provide a dynamic framework for surgical scale-up that also improves the resilience of the larger health system. Our paper applies principles from the literature on health system resilience to surgical systems and examines the unique capabilities of the surgical workforce and infrastructure to be redeployed during times of crisis, using examples from the current pandemic.

Adaptation of the Wound Healing Questionnaire universal-reporter outcome measure for use in global surgery trials (TALON-1 study): mixed-methods study and Rasch analysis

“…This instrument has, however, not yet been adapted for cross-cultural and cross-language implementation in LMICs. High-quality, contextually relevant tools for remote wound evaluation are urgently needed to build resilient and sustainable surgical systems and support safe upscaling of capacity during pandemic recovery 13 , 14 . They are also needed to reduce loss to follow-up and risk of attrition bias in randomized trials by developing contextually relevant pathways for remote assessment 9 .…”

Elective surgery system strengthening: development, measurement, and validation of the surgical preparedness index across 1632 hospitals in 119 countries

“…32 Second, the index does not inform the net benefit of restoring surgery versus other hospital activities; however, surgical service preparedness is an essential component of holistic health system resilience: it strengthens other health-care processes (eg, readiness to provide oxygen) 33 and transparent prioritisation will be key in competition for restricted resources. 34 Third, 868 (53%) of the 1632 hospitals had only one assessor. Differences in preparedness might exist between specialties or operating theatres that are not reflected here, and we were unable to assess variability between subgroups of assessors in more details.…”

Global Surgery at the National Landscape: Perspectives after the XXXIV Brazilian Congress of Surgery

“…Hence, empowering surgical healthcare leads to economic development and social change. Accomplishing such standards requires a joint effort to strategically allocate resources and identify collaboration opportunities, including those from medical societies and regulatory bodies 4 . Furthermore, investments in surgical training, curricula development, and workforce distribution are crucial steps to promote emergency and elective surgical care 4 .…”

“…Global Surgery is any action in research, clinical practice, and policymaking that aims to improve access and quality of care in surgical specialties such as trauma, anesthesia, and obstetrics 1,2 . In 2015, The Lancet Commission on Global Letícia NuNes campos 1,2 ; Lucas sousa saLgado 1,3 ; sofia Wagemaker ViaNa 1,4 ; aristócLes HítaLLo Bezerra 1,5 ; asHer misHaLy 1,6 ; LíVia sousa riBeiro 1,7 ; aNgeLa tHeresa zuffo yaBrude 1,8 ; caroLiNe marques de aquiNo 1,6 ; rodrigo Vaz ferreira, tcBc 9 ; JúLia LoyoLa ferreira 10,11 ; faBio BoteLHo, tcBc-mg 10,11 .…”