Patients’ Perception of Anaesthesia, the Anaesthetist and Experience of Anaesthesia Care

Background: The anaesthetist is a health care professional, but misconceptions about her identity and roles influence patient satisfaction, a unique clinical endpoint.    Objective: To determine patients’ perception of the anaesthetist and their satisfaction with perioperative anaesthesia care. Methods: This prospective study recruited adult patients scheduled for elective surgeries in a Nigerian tertiary health facility. A structured questionnaire was administered during the pre-anaesthetic visit, before the administration of anaesthesia and 24 hours post-operative to elicit information on socio-demographics, type of surgery, patient's perception of anaesthetist as a specialist, previous and index anaesthesia experience, and patient's satisfaction from the perioperative anaesthesia care. Results: One hundred (23 males and 77 females) adult patients with a mean age of 42.17±12.87 years were recruited for elective surgeries in various surgical specialities. Seventy-eight per cent were familiar with the roles of anaesthetists, but those with previous exposure to anaesthesia and a higher educational status showed better knowledge. Most participants (89%) realised that the anaesthetist was a qualified doctor. Still, when probed further, it was discovered that only 42% could anticipate that the anaesthetist oversaw the operating theatre. A majority (73%) were unaware that the anaesthetist works outside the operating theatre. The participants were very satisfied (68%) or satisfied (32%) with the post-operative assessment of perioperative anaesthesia care. Conclusion: Most patients scheduled for elective surgeries were familiar with anaesthetist roles and identity but were unaware of her role outside the operating theatre

General and regional anaesthesia for the thyroidectomy in rural/semi-urban Nigerian centres

Objective: To evaluate the feasibility and benefits of regional anaesthesia (RA) for thyroidectomy in rural/semi-urban centres.Design: A prospective study.Settings: Missionary Hospital Saki,Nigeria and Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, Sagamu, Nigeria.Subjects: One hundred and seventy five patients with goitre.Results: The average time for the anaesthetists to put patients to sleep was 4.06±1.02 minutes, while it took 17.8±2.9 minutes to give the regional block. Post operative laryngeal complications in RA group were very minimal, while in general anaesthesia (GA) group, there were significant complications in 32 (36%) patients laryngeal oedema 15 (17%), erosions in 10 (11%) and ulcer in seven (8%). Cost of surgery in GA was thrice as much as in RA group. Thirty one (35%) with GA had steam inhalation for sore throat. It was possible to converse (laryngeal nerve monitoring) with the patient during operation but not possible with GA group. There was early discharge of patients in RA group.Conclusion: Regional/local anaesthesia is feasible for some cases of thyroidectomy with a lot of advantages and specifically allows surgeons to converse with the patients during operation -direct laryngeal and other nerve monitoring. Despite advancement in cuff design a lot of lesions still occur from endotracheal intubations

Perception of Nigerian anaesthetists on intra-operative death

Background: Intra-operative death is an unusual devastating occurrence in anaesthetic practice, and it is of serious concern when it happens.Objectives: To assess the causes, the effects and the perception of Nigerian anaesthetists to intra-operative death.Design: A cross-sectional and questionnaire-based studySetting: Five University Teaching Hospitals in South-Western Nigeria.Subjects: Nurse anaesthetists, resident doctors in anaesthesia and consultant anaesthetistsResults: One hundred and five anaesthetists participated in the study (72.9% response rate). Seventy seven (73.3%) of the respondents had experienced an intra-operative death with most of them having five or more years of experience (p = 0.0001). Majority 53 (68.8%) of the respondents felt that the deaths were avoidable, and most deaths occurred mainly during emergency surgery (96.1%). Forty three (55.8%) of them were psychologically disturbed, fifty six (53.3%) respondents were of the opinion that it is reasonable for the anaesthetists involved not to take part in further surgery for that day. Sixty (57.1%) respondents considered discussion at mortality meeting as appropriate after an intra-operative death.Conclusion: This study showed that most anaesthetists would want those involved in the intra-operative death not to take part in further surgery for that day. Adequate preventive measures should be put in place with departmental or institutional policies on what to do after such events

An audit of the Day-of-Surgery Cancellation of Scheduled Surgical Procedures in Sagamu, Nigeria

Background: Timely performance of scheduled surgical procedures may be an indirect method of assessing the quality of surgical services in a hospital. Objective: This study aimed to determine the rate and the reasons for day-of-surgery cancellation of elective surgical procedures. Methods: A prospective study was conducted at the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, Sagamu, Nigeria to audit the type of surgery and the reasons for the cancellation of procedure among patients scheduled for elective surgical procedures. Results: A total of 1,324 patients were scheduled for elective surgeries during the period of audit and 268 (20.2%) were cancelled on the day of surgery. One hundred and seventy-four of the 268 (65.0%) cancellations were avoidable while 94 (35.0%) cancellations were unavoidable. The reasons for the cancellation of surgeries included patient-related factors (35.0%), unfavourable pre-operative clinical evaluation (31.0%), facility-based factors (28.0%) and surgeon-related factors (6.7%). Conclusion: The day-of-surgery cancellation rate was 20.2%, and the three leading causes of cancellation of elective surgeries in Sagamu included patient-related factors, unfavourable pre-operative clinical evaluation and inadequacies of hospital resources

Twelve-month observational study of children with cancer in 41 countries during the COVID-19 pandemic

Introduction Childhood cancer is a leading cause of death. It is unclear whether the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted childhood cancer mortality. In this study, we aimed to establish all-cause mortality rates for childhood cancers during the COVID-19 pandemic and determine the factors associated with mortality. Methods Prospective cohort study in 109 institutions in 41 countries. Inclusion criteria: children <18 years who were newly diagnosed with or undergoing active treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma, retinoblastoma, Wilms tumour, glioma, osteosarcoma, Ewing sarcoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, medulloblastoma and neuroblastoma. Of 2327 cases, 2118 patients were included in the study. The primary outcome measure was all-cause mortality at 30 days, 90 days and 12 months. Results All-cause mortality was 3.4% (n=71/2084) at 30-day follow-up, 5.7% (n=113/1969) at 90-day follow-up and 13.0% (n=206/1581) at 12-month follow-up. The median time from diagnosis to multidisciplinary team (MDT) plan was longest in low-income countries (7 days, IQR 3-11). Multivariable analysis revealed several factors associated with 12-month mortality, including low-income (OR 6.99 (95% CI 2.49 to 19.68); p<0.001), lower middle income (OR 3.32 (95% CI 1.96 to 5.61); p<0.001) and upper middle income (OR 3.49 (95% CI 2.02 to 6.03); p<0.001) country status and chemotherapy (OR 0.55 (95% CI 0.36 to 0.86); p=0.008) and immunotherapy (OR 0.27 (95% CI 0.08 to 0.91); p=0.035) within 30 days from MDT plan. Multivariable analysis revealed laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection (OR 5.33 (95% CI 1.19 to 23.84); p=0.029) was associated with 30-day mortality. Conclusions Children with cancer are more likely to die within 30 days if infected with SARS-CoV-2. However, timely treatment reduced odds of death. This report provides crucial information to balance the benefits of providing anticancer therapy against the risks of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children with cancer

Global patient outcomes after elective surgery: prospective cohort study in 27 low-, middle- and high-income countries.

BACKGROUND: As global initiatives increase patient access to surgical treatments, there remains a need to understand the adverse effects of surgery and define appropriate levels of perioperative care. METHODS: We designed a prospective international 7-day cohort study of outcomes following elective adult inpatient surgery in 27 countries. The primary outcome was in-hospital complications. Secondary outcomes were death following a complication (failure to rescue) and death in hospital. Process measures were admission to critical care immediately after surgery or to treat a complication and duration of hospital stay. A single definition of critical care was used for all countries. RESULTS: A total of 474 hospitals in 19 high-, 7 middle- and 1 low-income country were included in the primary analysis. Data included 44 814 patients with a median hospital stay of 4 (range 2-7) days. A total of 7508 patients (16.8%) developed one or more postoperative complication and 207 died (0.5%). The overall mortality among patients who developed complications was 2.8%. Mortality following complications ranged from 2.4% for pulmonary embolism to 43.9% for cardiac arrest. A total of 4360 (9.7%) patients were admitted to a critical care unit as routine immediately after surgery, of whom 2198 (50.4%) developed a complication, with 105 (2.4%) deaths. A total of 1233 patients (16.4%) were admitted to a critical care unit to treat complications, with 119 (9.7%) deaths. Despite lower baseline risk, outcomes were similar in low- and middle-income compared with high-income countries. CONCLUSIONS: Poor patient outcomes are common after inpatient surgery. Global initiatives to increase access to surgical treatments should also address the need for safe perioperative care. STUDY REGISTRATION: ISRCTN5181700

Maternal and child health interventions in Nigeria: a systematic review of published studies from 1990 to 2014

BACKGROUND: Poor maternal and child health indicators have been reported in Nigeria since the 1990s. Many interventions have been instituted to reverse the trend and ensure that Nigeria is on track to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. This systematic review aims at describing and indirectly measuring the effect of the Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health (MNCH) interventions implemented in Nigeria from 1990 to 2014. METHODS: PubMed and ISI Web of Knowledge were searched from 1990 to April 2014 whereas POPLINE® was searched until 16 February 2015 to identify reports of interventions targeting Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health in Nigeria. Narrative and graphical synthesis was done by integrating the results of extracted studies with trends of maternal mortality ratio (MMR) and under five mortality (U5MR) derived from a joint point regression analysis using Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey data (1990-2013). This was supplemented by document analysis of policies, guidelines and strategies of the Federal Ministry of Health developed for Nigeria during the same period. RESULTS: We identified 66 eligible studies from 2,662 studies. Three interventions were deployed nationwide and the remainder at the regional level. Multiple study designs were employed in the enrolled studies: pre- and post-intervention or quasi-experimental (n = 40; 61%); clinical trials (n = 6;9%); cohort study or longitudinal evaluation (n = 3;5%); process/output/outcome evaluation (n = 17;26%). The national MMR shows a consistent reduction (Annual Percentage Change (APC) = -3.10%, 95% CI: -5.20 to -1.00 %) with marked decrease in the slope observed in the period with a cluster of published studies (2004-2014). Fifteen intervention studies specifically targeting under-five children were published during the 24 years of observation. A statistically insignificant downward trend in the U5MR was observed (APC = -1.25%, 95% CI: -4.70 to 2.40%) coinciding with publication of most of the studies and development of MNCH policies. CONCLUSIONS: The development of MNCH policies, implementation and publication of interventions corresponds with the downward trend of maternal and child mortality in Nigeria. This systematic review has also shown that more MNCH intervention research and publications of findings is required to generate local and relevant evidence

Awareness and Use of Diclofenac Suppository for Postoperative Pain Relief by Nigerian Anaesthetists

Background: Diclofenac suppository has been used as a sole analgesic or adjunct to opioids for postoperative painrelief for more than a decade in some countries. However, its use in Nigeria is not known. This survey was conductedto assess the awareness and use of diclofenac suppository for postoperative pain relief by Physician anaesthetists inNigeria.Patients and Methods: A self administrable semi-structured questionnaire was designed and administered to 53Nigerian anaesthetists during two separate scientific workshops/conferences in September and November, 2010.Participants at the November Conference who had filled the questionnaire during the Workshop in September wererequested not to participate to avoid duplication of data.Results: The response rate was 96.2%. Sixty-eight percent of the respondents knew about diclofenac suppository. Ofthese, 29.4% have administered it to their patients; they all noted satisfactory results. Most (77.8%) of those that haveadministered the rectal diclofenac had it in their hospitals (p = 0.001). It was available in the institutions of only 12.6%of the respondents at affordable price. However, 90.4% would like to use it for postoperative pain relief if available attheir centres.Conclusion: The level of awareness of diclofenac suppository among Nigerian physician anaesthetists is fair butusage is still low. There is need for increased awareness through education on its use and benefit to patients. We needto improve its availability for postoperative pain relief in the light of its cost effectiveness.Keywords: Nigerian anaesthetists, awareness, diclofenac suppository, postoperative pain relie

The Pattern and Treatment Outcome of Abdominal Injuries at a Tertiary Hospital in South Western Nigeria.

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Abdominal Masses in Children: A 10-Year Review

Background: Some childhood diseases present with abdominal masses alone or with other constitutional symptoms. The knowledge of the common causes of abdominal masses in children can assist in developing a protocol of management by clinicians. Objective: To describe the aetiology and presentation of abdominal masses in children. Methods: The hospital records of all cases of intra-abdominal masses in children managed between May 1998 and April 2008 were retrieved for analysis. Socio-demographic and clinical data were obtained and analysed using simple descriptive statistics. Results: A total of 93 children were included while those without clinical, radiological and intra-operative evidence of intra-abdominal masses were excluded from the study. There were 49 males (52.7%) and 44 (47.3%) females with male-to-female ratio of 1.1:1. The children were aged 1 day to 14 years; 15 (16.1%) were aged 6-9 years, >9-12 years and >12-14 years. The most common cause of abdominal masses was appendiceal mass/abscess in 29%, followed by hydronephrosis in 22.6% and nephroblastoma in 16.11%. The most common symptoms included abdominal pain (86.0%), fever (46.2%), vomiting (40.9%) and abdominal distension (32.2%). The mortality rate was 13%. Conclusion: Non-malignant conditions were mostly responsible for abdominal masses in children while abdominal pain, fever and vomiting were the leading presentations of abdominal masses in children