JAMA surgery
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Strengthening workforce capacity to deliver essential surgical and anesthesia care has been identified as a strategy for addressing the unmet burden of morbidity and mortality in under-resourced countries. Sierra Leone is one of the poorest countries in the world and faces the challenge of stretching limited resources to provide appropriate health care for a population of 6 million. ⋯ To address unmet surgical need in the long term, accredited local surgical specialization programs are required; training of nonphysician surgical practitioners may offer a short-term solution. To develop safe anesthesia care, governments and donors should focus on providing health care professionals with essential equipment and resources.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
The effect of incentive spirometry on postoperative pulmonary function following laparotomy: a randomized clinical trial.
Changes in pulmonary dynamics following laparotomy are well documented. Deep breathing exercises, with or without incentive spirometry, may help counteract postoperative decreased vital capacity; however, the evidence for the role of incentive spirometry in the prevention of postoperative atelectasis is inconclusive. Furthermore, data are scarce regarding the prevention of postoperative atelectasis in sub-Saharan Africa. ⋯ Education and provision of incentive spirometry for unmonitored patient use does not result in statistically significant improvement in pulmonary dynamics following laparotomy. We would not recommend the addition of incentive spirometry to the current standard of care in this resource-constrained environment.
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Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) revolutionized the treatment of aortic stenosis. Developing a TAVR program with a custom-built hybrid operating room (HOR) outside the surgical operating room area poses unique challenges in Veterans Affairs (VA) institutions. ⋯ The primary factor for development of a successful TAVR program is integration of the heart valve team. Particular adaptations to the cardiac catheterization laboratory environment are required to accommodate an uncompromised HOR in which cardiac and vascular surgeons can be as comfortable as their interventional cardiology colleagues.
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Previous studies of checklist-based quality improvement interventions have reported mixed results. ⋯ Implementation of a checklist-based quality improvement intervention did not affect rates of adverse surgical outcomes among patients undergoing general surgery in participating Michigan hospitals. Additional research is needed to understand why this program was not successful prior to further dissemination and implementation of this model to other populations.