Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40084154›Full record

ReviewThe Lancet regional health. Southeast Asia2025

Minimum service standards assessment tool and the hospital strengthening program: a novel first step towards the quality improvement of Nepal's national hospital system.

Rita Pokhrel, Abigail Knoble, Pratibha Gautam, Mohammad Kashim Shah, Pravin Paudel, Archana Amatya, Madan Kumar Upadhyaya, Ruma Rajbhandari

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in The Lancet regional health. Southeast Asia, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. 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.

Rita PokhrelNick Simons Institute, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Abigail KnobleMass General Brigham, Boston, MA, USA.
Pratibha GautamHarvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
Mohammad Kashim ShahNick Simons Institute, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Pravin PaudelNick Simons Institute, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Archana AmatyaNick Simons Institute, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Madan Kumar UpadhyayaQuality Standard and Regulation Division, Ministry of Health and Population, Government of Nepal, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Ruma RajbhandariMass General Brigham, Boston, MA, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

District hospitals in Nepal, as in other Low- and Lower - Middle Income Countries (LLMICs), struggle to provide quality care due to inadequate investments in equipment, human resources, and hospital infrastructure. To address these challenges, under the leadership of the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP), Nick Simons Institute (NSI) developed and implemented the novel Minimum Service Standards (MSS) assessment tool in close partnership with the Government of Nepal. The MSS tool routinely assesses a hospital's readiness to provide mandated care and identify gaps, which are then closed via a small annual grant to the health facility, together providing the knowledge and resources to improve hospital readiness and service availability. Since its inception in 2014, the program has expanded to 130 government hospitals as of April 2024. The program provides a blueprint for hospitals to pursue excellence and has tracked and motivated substantial improvements in services since 2014, such as basic laboratory investigations (+46%), cesarean sections (+40%), and spinal anesthesia (+32%). The program has impacted healthcare policy due to the close collaboration with the MoHP, influencing budget allocation, insurance payments, and hospital upgrade criteria, cementing its sustainability and long term impact. Funding: No external funding.

Indexed as

Curative servicesHealthcare policyHealthcare qualityHealthcare system assessmentHealth system quality monitoringHealth system strengtheningHospital strengtheningNepalQuality assessment toolsQuality health systems

Identifiers

PMID40084154
PMCPMC11904555

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.