SAFE SURGERY AND SAFE ANAESTHESIA IN AFRICA: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY TO ASSESS THE KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND AVAILABILITY OF THE WHO SAFE SURGERY CHECKLIST TO THE MEMBERS OF THE SURGICAL TEAM.

Background: Access to safe surgery and anaesthesia remains a challenge, particularly in low-middle income countries. Lack of anaesthetic and surgical safety causes significant burdens on the healthcare systems, leading to high morbidity and mortality. To address these issues, the WHO introduced the Surgical Safety Checklist (SSC) in 2009. This study aims to investigate the knowledge, attitude, and availability of the SSC to members of the surgical team in Africa. Methodology: A cross-sectional study design was used to sample members of the surgical team across tertiary hospitals in 6 African countries. A p-value less than 0.05 was considered significant for associations between dependent and independent variables. Results: Of the 227 respondents, 55% are male and 45% are female. Students (Medical and Nursing) accounted for 30% while the remaining 70% comprised other professionals in the surgical team. Overall, 74% of the participants were aware of the WHO SSC with Anaesthetists and Surgeons having the highest awareness and medical and nursing students reporting the least awareness. Of the respondents aware, 93% had good knowledge and 88% had a positive attitude towards the WHO SSC. Of those who primarily use the WHO SSC, 82% said it was readily available. Awareness, Knowledge, Attitude and Availability of the WHO SSC were all associated with the university hospital of the respondents. Conclusion: The result of the study calls for increased training and education on the WHO SSC should be provided to all members of the surgical team, regardless of their professional roles and training levels.