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Ratio of Cesarean Deliveries to Total Operations and Surgeon Nationality Are Potential Proxies for Surgical Capacity in Central Haiti

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Abstract

Background

The World Health Organization has a standardized tool to assess surgical capacity in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), but it is often resource- and time-intensive. There currently exists no simple, evidence-based measure of surgical capacity in these settings. The proportion of cesarean deliveries in regard to the total operations (C/O ratio) has been suggested as a way to assess quickly the capacity for emergency and essential surgery in LMICs. This ratio has been estimated to be between 23.3 and 41.5 % in LMICs, but the tool’s utility has not been replicated.

Methods

We reviewed operative logbooks for the Partners In Health/Zanmi Lasante hospital in Cange, Haiti. We recorded data on all consecutive surgical patients from July 2008 to 2010 and calculated the C/O ratio by dividing the number of cesarean deliveries by the total number of operations performed. We also analyzed surgical data by surgeon nationality to provide additional information about local surgical capacity.

Results

A total of 3,641 operations were performed between 2008 and 2010. The C/O ratio decreased significantly between 2008–2009 and 2009–2010 (13.4 vs. 10.7 %, p = 0.001) as the surgical volume and resources increased. Nationality analysis demonstrated that Haitian surgeons were able to provide a spectrum of general and specialist surgical care.

Conclusions

In its inherent relation to essential surgical procedures and to the overall rate of cesarean deliveries in the region, the C/O ratio can provide an accessible assessment of regional surgical resources. In Haiti, the change in the C/O ratio demonstrated a relative increase in surgical capacity from 2008 to 2010. An additional analysis of surgeon nationality ensured that C/O ratio estimates more accurately reflect local practitioner activity, but deficiencies in the regional capacity to address the local burden of surgical disease may still exist.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Thierry Pauyo, MD and David Bayne for their assistance in collecting a portion of the operative data. We also acknowledge the Pyrtek Fund at Hartford Hospital and the Department of Surgery, University of Connecticut School of Medicine, for their educational support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plastic and Oral Surgery, Children’s Hospital Boston, 300 Longwood Avenue, Enders 1, Boston, MA, 02115, USA

    Christopher D. Hughes, Lars Hagander & John G. Meara

  2. Program in Global Surgery and Social Change, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Christopher D. Hughes, Craig D. McClain, Lars Hagander & John G. Meara

  3. Department of Anesthesiology, Children’s Hospital Boston, Boston, MA, USA

    Craig D. McClain

  4. Department of Pediatric Surgery, Lund University Medical Faculty, Lund, Sweden

    Lars Hagander

  5. Zanmi Lasante, Cange, Haiti

    Jean Hamiltong Pierre

  6. Surgeons OverSeas, New York, NY, USA

    Reinou S. Groen & Adam L. Kushner

  7. Department of Surgery, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA

    Adam L. Kushner

Authors
  1. Christopher D. Hughes
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  2. Craig D. McClain
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  3. Lars Hagander
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  4. Jean Hamiltong Pierre
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  5. Reinou S. Groen
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  6. Adam L. Kushner
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  7. John G. Meara
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Christopher D. Hughes or John G. Meara.

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Hughes, C.D., McClain, C.D., Hagander, L. et al. Ratio of Cesarean Deliveries to Total Operations and Surgeon Nationality Are Potential Proxies for Surgical Capacity in Central Haiti. World J Surg 37, 1526–1529 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00268-012-1794-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00268-012-1794-7

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