Evidence map›Paper›PMID 25849960›Full record

ArticlePloS one2015

Mortality related to acute illness and injury in rural Uganda: task shifting to improve outcomes.

Stacey Chamberlain, Uwe Stolz, Bradley Dreifuss, Sara W Nelson, Heather Hammerstedt, Jovita Andinda, Samuel Maling, Mark Bisanzo

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in PloS one, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
30citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
8.6field-weighted citation impact, top 3% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

30 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 53 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  18. Defining High-risk Emergency Chief Complaints: Data-driven Triage for Low- and Middle-income Countries.Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine · 2020
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  19. Article
  20. Rapid, remote education for point-of-care ultrasound among non-physician emergency care providers in a resource limited setting.African journal of emergency medicine : Revue africaine de la medecine d'urgence · 2019
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 6 institutions in 2 countries.

Stacey ChamberlainGlobal Emergency Care Collaborative, Massachusetts, United States of America and Uganda; Department of Emergency Medicine and Center for Global Health, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America.
Uwe StolzGlobal Emergency Care Collaborative, Massachusetts, United States of America and Uganda; Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, United States of America.
Bradley DreifussGlobal Emergency Care Collaborative, Massachusetts, United States of America and Uganda; Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, United States of America.
Sara W NelsonGlobal Emergency Care Collaborative, Massachusetts, United States of America and Uganda; Department of Emergency Medicine, Maine Medical Center, Portland, Maine, United States of America.
Heather HammerstedtGlobal Emergency Care Collaborative, Massachusetts, United States of America and Uganda; Idaho Emergency Physicians, Boise, Idaho, United States of America.
Jovita AndindaGlobal Emergency Care Collaborative, Massachusetts, United States of America and Uganda; Karoli Lwanga Hospital, Nyakibale, Uganda.
Samuel MalingDepartment of Psychiatry, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Mbarara, Uganda.
Mark BisanzoGlobal Emergency Care Collaborative, Massachusetts, United States of America and Uganda; Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Massachusetts, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States of America.
University of Arizona · USCenter for Global Health · USMaine Medical Center · USMbarara University of Science and Technology · UGNyakibale Hospital · UGUniversity of Massachusetts Chan Medical School · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundDue to the dual critical shortages of acute care and healthcare workers in resource-limited settings, many people suffer or die from conditions that could be easily treated if existing resources were used in a more timely and effective manner. In order to address this preventable morbidity and mortality, a novel emergency midlevel provider training program was developed in rural Uganda. This is the first study that assesses this unique application of a task-shifting model to acute care by evaluating the outcomes of 10,105 patients.

methodsNurses participated in a two-year training program to become midlevel providers called Emergency Care Practitioners at a rural district hospital. This is a retrospective analysis of the Emergency Department's quality assurance database, including three-day follow-up data. Case fatality rates (CFRs) are reported as the percentage of cases with a specific diagnosis that died within three days of their Emergency Department visit.

findingsOverall, three-day mortality was 2.0%. The most common diagnoses of patients who died were malaria (n=60), pneumonia (n=51), malnutrition (n=21), and trauma (n=18). Overall and under-five CFRs were as follows: malaria, 2.0% and 1.9%; pneumonia, 5.5% and 4.1%; and trauma, 1.2% and 1.6%. Malnutrition-related fatality (all cases <18 years old) was 6.5% overall and 6.8% for under-fives.

interpretationThis study describes the outcomes of emergency patients treated by midlevel providers in a resource-limited setting. Our fatality rates are lower than previously published regional rates. These findings suggest this model of task-shifting can be successfully applied to acute care in order to address the shortage of emergency care services in similar settings as part of an integrated approach to health systems strengthening.

Indexed as

Acute DiseaseAdolescentAdultChildChild, PreschoolCohort StudiesEmergency Service, HospitalFemaleHumansInfantInfant, NewbornMaleQuality Assurance, Health CareRetrospective StudiesRural PopulationTreatment Outcome

Identifiers

PMID25849960
PMCPMC4388510
OpenAlexW2079927287

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.