Abstract
Background
The Pacific island nation of Vanuatu faces a number of challenges in delivering surgical care to its population. We aimed to understand and document the barriers, opportunities and required actions to improve surgical care in the country using a mixed methods analysis which incorporated the perspectives of local health stakeholders.
Methods
A baseline quantitative assessment of surgical capacity in Vanuatu was carried out using the WHO situational analysis tool. Twenty semi-structured interviews were then conducted on the two main islands (Efate and Espiritu Santo) with surgeons, allied health staff, health managers, policy-makers and other key stakeholders, using a grounded theory qualitative case study methodology. Initial informants were identified by purposive sampling followed by snowball sampling until theoretical saturation was reached. Interviews were open and axially coded with subsequent thematic analysis.
Results
Vanuatu faces deficits in surgical infrastructure, equipment and human resources, especially in the rural provinces. Geographic isolation, poverty and culture—including the use of traditional medicine and low health literacy—all act as barriers to patients accessing timely surgical care. Issues with governance, human resourcing and perioperative care were commonly identified by stakeholders as key challenges facing surgical services. Increasing outreach clinics, developing efficient referral systems, building provincial surgical capacity and undertaking locally led research were identified as key actions that can improve surgical care.
Conclusion
Documenting locally identified challenges and opportunities for surgical care in Vanuatu is an important first step towards developing formal strategies for improving surgical services at the country level.
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No conflicts of interest. Salary costs for Steven Young were met by University of Auckland Studentship fund and travel costs met by the University of Auckland Department of Surgery.
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Informant quotes, indicated by both quotation marks and italics, have been extracted verbatim from interview transcripts with only the removal of fillers (such as ‘umms’ and ‘ahhs’) and the insertion of appropriate punctuation to ensure ease of reading. Square brackets following the quotations refer to the participants’ pseudonyms from which the specific evidence was sourced.
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Young, S., Perry, W.R.G., Leodoro, B. et al. Challenges and Opportunities in the Provision of Surgical Care in Vanuatu: A Mixed Methods Analysis. World J Surg 40, 1865–1873 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00268-016-3535-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00268-016-3535-9