Pathways to effective surgical coverage in a lower-middle-income country: A multiple methods study of the family physician-led generalist surgical team in rural Nepal.

ABSTRACT: The Lancet Commission on Global Surgery (LCoGS) recommends using specialist surgical workforce density as one of 6 core indicators for monitoring universal access to safe, affordable surgical and anaesthesia care. Using Nepal as a case study, we explored the capacity of a generalist workforce (led by a family physician or MD general practitioner and non-physician anaesthetist) to enable effective surgical delivery through task-shifting. Using a multiple-methods approach, we retrospectively mapped essential surgical care and the enabling environment for surgery in 39 hospitals in 25 remote districts in Nepal and compared it with LCoGS indicators. All 25 districts performed surgery, 21 performed Caesarean section (CS), and 5 met at least 50% of district CS needs. Generalist surgical teams pe

SUBMITTER: Ross O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10021892 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature