Critical care service delivery across healthcare systems in low-income and low-middle-income countries: protocol for a systematic review.

INTRODUCTION: Critical care in low-income and low-middle income countries (LLMICs) is an underdeveloped component of the healthcare system. Given the increasing growth in demand for critical care services in LLMICs, understanding the current capacity to provide critical care is imperative to inform policy on service expansion. Thus, our aim is to describe the provision of critical care in LLMICs with respect to patients, providers, location of care and services and interventions delivered. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: We will search PubMed/MEDLINE, Web of Science and EMBASE for full-text original research articles available in English describing critical care services that specify the location of service delivery and describe patients and interventions. We will restrict our review to populations from LLMICs (using 2016 World Bank classifications) and published from 1 January 2008 to 1 January 2020. Two-reviewer agreement will be required for both title/abstract and full text review stages, and rate of agreement will be calculated for each stage. We will extract data regarding the location of critical care service delivery, the training of the healthcare professionals providing services, and the illnesses treated according to classification by the WHO Universal Health Coverage Compendium. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Reviewed and exempted by the Stanford University Office for Human Subjects Research and IRB on 20 May 2020. The results of this review will be disseminated through scholarly publication and presentation at regional and international conferences. This review is designed to inform broader WHO, International Federation for Emergency Medicine and partner efforts to strengthen critical care globally. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42019146802.

Hepatic abscess-associated Clostridial bacteraemia presenting with intravascular haemolysis and severe hypertension.

Clostridium perfringens bacteraemia is a potentially fatal condition, and its early identification is paramount to maximise chances of survival. Prompt recognition of intravascular haemolysis, a known complication of C. perfringens bacteraemia, can help guide clinical decision-making before microbiology data becomes available. We present a novel finding of severe hypertension in a fatal case of Clostridial bacteraemia with massive haemolysis. A 58-year-old man with no known medical history presented to the emergency department with malaise, fever and hypertension. He developed abdominal pain and a hepatic abscess was identified on CT imaging. Within 4 h of presentation, he developed massive intravascular haemolysis, extreme hypertension, pulmonary oedema and respiratory failure. He died less than 8 h after presentation. His blood cultures subsequently grew C. perfringens. This case underscores the importance of early recognition of intravascular haemolysis complicating C. perfringens bacteraemia, and discusses the rare complication of hypertensive emergency in this setting.

The Tanzanian trauma patients' prehospital experience: a qualitative interview-based study.

OBJECTIVES: We sought to characterise the prehospital experience of Tanzanian trauma patients, and identify barriers and facilitators to implement community-based emergency medical systems (EMS). SETTINGS: Our study was conducted in the emergency department of an urban national referral hospital in Tanzania. PARTICIPANTS: A convenience sample of 34 adult trauma patients, or surrogate family members, presenting or referred to an urban referral emergency department in Tanzania for treatment of injury, participated in the study. INTERVENTIONS: Participation in semistructured, iteratively developed interviews until saturation of responses was reached. OUTCOMES: A grounded theory-based approach to qualitative analysis was used to identify recurrent themes. RESULTS: We characterised numerous deficiencies within the existing clinic-to-hospital referral network, including missed/delayed diagnoses, limited management capabilities at pre-referral facilities and interfacility transfer delays. Potential barriers to EMS implementation include patient financial limitations and lack of insurance, limited public infrastructure and resources, and the credibility of potential first aid responders. Potential facilitators of EMS include communities' tendency to pool resources, individuals' trust of other community members to be first aid responders, and faith in community leaders to organise EMS response. Participants expressed a strong desire to learn first aid. CONCLUSIONS: The composite themes generated by the data suggest that there are myriad structural, financial, institutional and cultural barriers to the implementation of a formal prehospital system. However, our analysis also revealed potential facilitators to a first-responder system that takes advantage of close-knit local communities and the trust of recognised leaders in society. The results suggest favourable acceptability for community-based response by trained lay people. There is significant opportunity for care improvements with short trainings and low-cost supply planning. Further research looking at the effects of delay on outcomes in this population is needed.

Trauma and mental health of medics in eastern Myanmar's conflict zones: a cross-sectional and mixed methods investigation.

BACKGROUND: In conflict and disaster settings, medical personnel are exposed to psychological stressors that threaten their wellbeing and increase their risk of developing burnout, depression, anxiety, and PTSD. As lay medics frequently function as the primary health providers in these situations, their mental health is crucial to the delivery of services to afflicted populations. This study examines a population of community health workers in Karen State, eastern Myanmar to explore the manifestations of health providers' psychological distress in a low-resource conflict environment. METHODS: Mental health screening surveys were administered to 74 medics, incorporating the 12-item general health questionnaire (GHQ-12) and the posttraumatic checklist for civilians (PCL-C). Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 30 medics to investigate local idioms of distress, sources of distress, and the support and management of medics' stressors. RESULTS: The GHQ-12 mean was 10.7 (SD 5.0, range 0-23) and PCL-C mean was 36.2 (SD 9.7, range 17-69). There was fair internal consistency for the GHQ-12 and PCL-C (Cronbach's alpha coeffecients 0.74 and 0.80, respectively) and significant correlation between the two scales (Pearson's R-correlation 0.47, P<0.001). Qualitative results revealed abundant evidence of stressors, including perceived inadequacy of skills, transportation barriers, lack of medical resources, isolation from family communities, threats of military violence including landmine injury, and early life trauma resulting from conflict and displacement. Medics also discussed mechanisms to manage stressors, including peer support, group-based and individual forms of coping. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest significant sources and manifestations of mental distress among this under-studied population. The discrepancy between qualitative evidence of abundant stressors and the comparatively low symptom scores may suggest marked mental resilience among subjects. The observed symptom score means in contrast with the qualitative evidence of abundant stressors may suggest the development of marked mental resilience among subjects. Alternatively, the discrepancy may reflect the inadequacy of standard screening tools not validated for this population and potential cultural inappropriateness of established diagnostic frameworks. The importance of peer-group support as a protective factor suggests that interventions might best serve healthworkers in conflict areas by emphasizing community- and team-based strategies.