Surgical Burden Research Articles

Assessment of emergency and essential surgical service in primary hospitals of South Gondar zone, Amhara region, Ethiopia, 2019

IntroductionSurgical service at the first level referral hospitals are an important aspect of comprehensive health care. Surgical disease has been estimated to constitute 11% of the total global burden of disease, of which a substantial fraction unfortunately remains unmet in resource limited area. Surgical volume is large and continues to grow in all economic environments, yet many low-income countries fail to achieve basic levels of surgical service. ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to evaluate the capacity of emergency and essential surgical service in primary hospital facilities of south Gondar zone in Amhara regional state. DesignA cross sectional survey was employed in seven primary hospitals of south Gondar zone. MaterialThe WHO tool for situational analysis to assess emergency and essential surgical care was employed to capture a health facility's capacity to perform basic surgical (including obstetrics and trauma) and anesthesia interventions by investigating four categories of data: infrastructure, human resources, interventions available and equipment. The tool queried the availability of eight types of care providers, 35 surgical interventions and 67 items of equipment. ResultOf the 35 basic interventions listed in the tool, 51.4% basic interventions including caesarean section were available at all facilities. Averaging of 51 beds per facility was reported. The mean distance travelled prior to admission was 42 km. A total of 170 healthcare providers were reported in the seven facilities. This survey found that essential equipment was not consistently available at all of the facilities. ConclusionDiscrepancies in infrastructure, human resources, service provision, and essential equipment and supplies demonstrate the significant gaps in capacity of hospitals to deliver emergency and essential surgical care and effectively addressing the increasing surgical burden of disease and injury in south Gondar zone primary hospitals.

Surgical burden of breast diseases at a teaching hospital in Central India- a retrospective analysis

Introduction: The involution and development of breast, though a physiological process, gives rise to various breast problems ranging from simple mastalgia to full blown cancers. Diseases like fibroadenoma, breast abscess and also cancers require surgical intervention, and add to the rising financial burden on our healthcare system. Hence, the aim of this study was to understand the pattern of breast diseases requiring surgical intervention in a teaching hospital in Central India. Materials and method: In this retrospective study, records of all patients undergoing breast surgery from the period December 2016 to November 2018 where analysed and age, sex, laterality, diagnosis and type of surgery performed were noted. Result: A total of 107 females underwent surgery, out of which 68 (63.55%) were operated for fibroadenoma, followed by breast carcinoma (17.75%), abscess (12.15%), sebaceous cyst (4.67%), Phylloides tumor (0.93%) and duct ectasia (0.93%). Age of the patients ranged from 14 years to 50 years with commonest age group of presentation being 21 to 30 years. 52 (48.59%) lesions were right-sided, 46 (43%) left-sided and 9 were bilateral. Conclusion: We Indians are no different from the rest of the world when it comes to data comparison of various diseases, but we lag behind in overall numbers. An alarming sign is the early age at which breast cancer is affecting our women, and we as a society should take definitive steps to halt this trend.

Forward Surgical Team Procedural Burden and Non-operative Interventions by the U.S. Military Trauma System in Afghanistan, 2008-2014.

No published study has reported non-surgical interventions performed by forward surgical teams, and there are no current surgical benchmarks for forward surgical teams. The objective of the study was to describe operative procedures and non-operative interventions received by battlefield casualties and determine the operative procedural burden on the trauma system. This was a retrospective analysis of data from the Joint Trauma System Forward Surgical Team Database using battle and non-battle injured casualties treated in Afghanistan from 2008-2014. Overall procedure frequency, mortality outcome, and survivor morbidity outcome were calculated using operating room procedure codes grouped by the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project classification. Cumulative attributable burden of procedures was calculated by frequency, mortality, and morbidity. Morbidity and mortality burden were used to rank procedures. The study population was comprised of 10,992 casualties, primarily male (97.8%), with a median age interquartile range of 25.0 (22.0-30.0). Affiliations were non-U.S. military (40.0%), U.S. military (35.1%), and others (25.0%). Injuries were penetrating (65.2%), blunt (32.8), and burns (2.0%). Casualties included 4.4% who died and 14.9% who lived but had notable morbidity findings. After ranking by contribution to trauma system morbidity and mortality burden, the top 10 of 32 procedure groups accounted for 74.4% of operative care, 77.9% of mortality, and 73.1% of unexpected morbidity findings. These procedure groups included laparotomy, vascular procedures, thoracotomy, debridement, lower and upper gastrointestinal procedures, amputation, and therapeutic procedures on muscles and upper and lower extremity bones. Most common non-operative interventions included X-ray, ultrasound, wound care, catheterization, and intubation. Forward surgical team training and performance improvement metrics should focus on optimizing commonly performed operative procedures and non-operative interventions. Operative procedures that were commonly performed, and those associated with higher rates of morbidity and mortality, can set surgical benchmarks and outline training and skillsets needed by forward surgical teams.

The Surgical Burden of Musculoskeletal Conditions and Injuries.

The Surgical Burden of Musculoskeletal Conditions and Injuries.

Mandibular second and third molar protraction with orthodontic mini-implants: case report

This case report describes the management of a 30-year-old woman with hopeless mandibular first molars and right maxillary second premolar. The treatment plan included mandibular second and third molar protraction after extraction of mandibular first molars. Mini-implants were placed between roots of first and second premolar. Sliding mechanics with lever arm was used to prevent inclination of molars. A good functional occlusion was achieved in 38 months without clinically significant side effects. Most of the extraction space of mandibular first molar was closed by protraction of second and third molars. The skeletal Class II pattern was improved by counterclockwise rotation of mandible through reduction of wedge effect. Mandibular molar protraction with orthodontic mini-implants in adequate cases would be a great alternative to prosthetic implant and reduce the financial and surgical burden of patients.

Toward reducing the surgical burden of care: Modern longitudinal life-changing concept in cleft care

Toward reducing the surgical burden of care: Modern longitudinal life-changing concept in cleft care

Pediatric Cervicofacial Actinomycosis: Lessons From a Craniofacial Unit.

Actinomycosis is a rare disease that remains difficult to diagnose and manage. Prompted by 2 recent cases the authors sought evidence-based conclusions about best practice. A systematic review was conducted using standard PRISMA methodology. The study was registered prospectively (PROSPERO: CRD42018115064). Thirty-three children from 23 series are described. The mean age was 8 years (range 3-17). Fifty-five percent were female. Twenty cases involved bone (usually mandible); 13 cases involved cervicofacial soft tissue. Poor dental hygiene and oral trauma were implicated. The median diagnostic delay was 12 weeks (range 1-156 weeks). The median duration of definitive antibiotic therapy was 17 weeks (range 1-130 weeks). Although diagnostic delay did not correlate with number of surgeries, bony involvement was associated with more procedures (P = 0.008, unpaired t test). All (6) cases with residual infection had bony involvement (P = 0.06, Fisher exact test). Neither diagnostic delay nor number of surgeries significantly influenced infection-free outcome which, instead, relies on aggressive surgical debridement and prolonged antibiotic therapy. Mandibular involvement exhibits a higher surgical burden and chronicity in around a third of cases. As dental caries are implicated in mandibular disease, preventative strategies must focus on improving pediatric oral hygiene.

Safe Anesthesia Care in Western Kenya: A Preliminary Assessment of the Impact of Nurse Anesthetists at Multiple Levels of Government Hospitals.

Only 20% of the surgical burden in eastern sub-Saharan Africa is currently met, leaving >17 million surgical cases annually in need of safe surgery and anesthesia. Similarly, there is an extreme shortage of anesthesia providers in East Africa, with just 0.44 anesthesiologists per 100,000 people in Kenya compared to 20.82 per 100,000 in the United States. Additionally, surgical access is not equally distributed within countries, with rural settings often having the greatest unmet need. We developed and tested a set of tools to assess if graduates of the Kenya registered nurse anesthetist (KRNA) training program, who were placed in rural hospitals in Kenya, would have any impact on surgical numbers, referral patterns, and economics of these hospitals. Cross-sectional data were collected from facility assessments in 9 referral hospitals to evaluate the possible impact of the KRNAs on anesthesia care. The hospitals were grouped based on both the number of beds and the assigned national hospital level. At each level, a hospital that had KRNA graduates (intervention) was matched with comparison hospitals in the same category with no KRNA graduates (control). The facility assessment survey included questions capturing data on personnel, infrastructure, supplies, medications, procedures, and outcomes. At the intervention sites, the medical directors of the hospitals and the KRNAs were interviewed. Descriptive statistics were used to present the findings. Intervention sites had a density of anesthesia providers that was 43% higher compared to the control sites. Intervention sites performed at least twice as many surgical cases compared to the control sites. Most KRNAs stated that the anesthesia training program had given them sufficient training and leadership skills to perform safe anesthesia in their clinical practice setting. Medical directors at the intervention sites reported increased surgical volumes and fewer referrals to larger hospitals due to the anesthesia gaps that had been addressed. Our findings from this study suggest that KRNAs may be associated with an increased volume of surgical cases completed in these rural Kenyan hospitals and may therefore be filling a known anesthetic void. The presence of skilled anesthesia providers is a first step toward providing safe surgery and anesthesia care for all; however, significant gaps still remain. Future analysis will focus on surgical outcomes, the appropriate anesthesia delivery model for a rural population, and how the availability of anesthesia infrastructure impacts referral patterns and safe surgery capacity.

Operation rate is more than double the revision rate for periprosthetic femur fractures.

Periprosthetic femur fractures (PFFs) following hip arthroplasty can lead to significant morbidity due to their impact on mobility and the need for surgery. Its incidence often measured by the prosthesis revision rate reported in joint replacement registries. However, many PFFs are also treated with prosthesis retention and internal fixation. Minimally displaced and stable fractures may be treated without surgery. Knowledge of the difference between the number of femoral revisions for PFF (well reported in registries) and the number of surgeries for PFF overall would allow us to estimate the overall surgical burden. This study aims to determine the number of post-operative PFF in three hospitals and compare those treated with revision surgery to those PFF treated with internal fixation and femoral stem retention. By determining this difference, we can ascertain a more accurate estimate of the overall surgical burden of PFF. Patients 50 years and older who sustained a post-operative PFF between 1 January 2011 and 31 December 2017 at three public hospitals were extracted from hospital records. The number of revision procedures was compared to the number of re-operations of any type. There were 200 patients admitted for management of PFF. One hundred and forty-three (71.5%) required an operation of which 67 (47%) were revision arthroplasty. The overall surgical burden of PFF is approximately twice that represented by the revision rate.

Morbidity and Mortality After Surgery for Nonmalignant Colorectal Polyps: A 10-Year Nationwide Analysis.

OBJECTIVES:Rates of surgery for nonmalignant colorectal polyps are increasing in the United States despite evidence that most polyps can be managed endoscopically. We aimed to determine nationally representative estimates and to identify predictors of in-hospital mortality and morbidity after surgery for nonmalignant colorectal polyps.METHODS:Data were analyzed from the National Inpatient Sample for 2005–2014. All discharges for adult patients undergoing surgery for nonmalignant colorectal polyps were identified. Rates of in-hospital mortality and postoperative wound, infectious, urinary, pulmonary, gastrointestinal, or cardiovascular adverse events were calculated. Multivariable logistic regression using survey-weighted data was used to evaluate covariables associated with postoperative mortality and morbidity.RESULTS:An estimated 262,843 surgeries for nonmalignant colorectal polyps were analyzed. In-hospital mortality was 0.8% [95% confidence interval: 0.7%–0.9%] and morbidity was 25.3% [95% confidence interval: 24.2%–26.4%]. Postoperative mortality was associated with open surgical technique (vs laparoscopic), older age, black race (vs non-Hispanic white), Medicaid use, and burden of comorbidities. Female sex and private insurance were associated with lower risk. Patients developing a postoperative adverse event had a 106% increase in mean hospital length of stay (10.3 vs 5.0 days; P < 0.0001) and 91% increase in mean hospitalization cost ($77,015.24 vs $40,258.30; P < 0.0001).DISCUSSION:Surgery for nonmalignant colorectal polyps is associated with almost 1% mortality and common morbidity. These findings should inform risk vs benefit discussions for clinicians and patients, and although confounding by patient selection cannot be excluded, the risks associated with surgery support consideration of endoscopic resection as a potentially less invasive therapeutic option.

Global Surgery: A 30-Year Bibliometric Analysis (1987-2017).

There has been a growing interest in addressing the surgical disease burden in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Assessing the current state of global surgery research activity is an important step in identifying gaps in knowledge and directing research efforts towards important unaddressed issues. The aim of this bibliometric analysis was to identify trends in the publication of global surgical research over the last 30years. Scopus® was searched for global surgical publications (1987-2017). Results were hand-screened, and data were collected for included articles. Bibliometric data were extracted from Scopus® and Journal Citation Reports. Country-level economic and population data were obtained from the World Bank. Descriptive statistics were used to summarise data and identify significant trends. A total of 1623 articles were identified. The volume of scientific production on global surgery increased from 14 publications in 1987 to 149 in 2017. Similarly, the number of articles published open access increased from four in 1987 to 68 in 2017. Observational studies accounted for 88.7% of the included studies. The three most common specialties were obstetrics and gynaecology 260 (16.0%), general surgery 256 (15.8%), and paediatric surgery 196 (12.1%). Over two times as many authors were affiliated to an LMIC institution than to a high-income country (HIC) institution (6628, 71.5% vs 2481, 28.5%, P < 0.001). A total of 965 studies (59.5%) were conducted entirely by LMIC authors, and 534 (32.9%) by collaborations between HICs and LMICs. The quantity of research in global surgery has substantially increased over the past 30years. Authors from LMICs seemed the most proactive in addressing the global surgical disease burden. Increasing the funding for interventional studies, and therefore the quality of evidence in surgery, has the potential for greater impact for patients in LMICs.

Feasibility and quality of functional calibration movements on knee kinematics in patients with gait problems

Over the past several years, activity monitors have become very popular in the general population, and due to their low cost and ease of use, are starting to be seen as clinical tools for the assessment of interventions. This presents researchers with the opportunity to better understand how activity, or lack thereof, is related to the recovery of patients. However, even in individuals without disabilities, there is a high degree of variability in activity monitor data which must be better understood in order to produce clinically meaningful interpretation of such data.What sources of variability contribute the most to the daily scatter in activity data as measured by StepWatches in youth with Cerebral Palsy (CP)? In particular, do non-clinical factors such as weather and location contribute to this variability significantly?This was a retrospective study making use of data from our activity monitoring protocol of youths with CP who obtain single event multi-level surgeries. Before and after these surgeries, 57 such youths aged 4.2–21.3 years were issued StepWatches to monitor daily activity for 8 day periods over 24 months duration. Weather data and walk scores for the patients’ home locations were collected from online databases. Steps per hour were predicted from clinical and environmental data using bootstrapped regression to determine the stability of regression coefficients and the percent variability explained by each variable.Time since surgery, age, season, GMFCS level, and surgical burden were significant variables in the model. Of them, GMFCS level was most important and explained nearly 16% of the variability in the data. Temperature, precipitation, and walk score had small effects on step count variance.Understanding sources of variability in step-counts is important if such a measure is to be used as a clinical measure of recovery, and may be important in the consideration of future surgical planning.

Factors influencing post-surgical variability in StepWatch data in youth with cerebral palsy

BackgroundOver the past several years, activity monitors have become very popular in the general population, and due to their low cost and ease of use, are starting to be seen as clinical tools for the assessment of interventions. This presents researchers with the opportunity to better understand how activity, or lack thereof, is related to the recovery of patients. However, even in individuals without disabilities, there is a high degree of variability in activity monitor data which must be better understood in order to produce clinically meaningful interpretation of such data. Research questionWhat sources of variability contribute the most to the daily scatter in activity data as measured by StepWatches in youth with Cerebral Palsy (CP)? In particular, do non-clinical factors such as weather and location contribute to this variability significantly? MethodsThis was a retrospective study making use of data from our activity monitoring protocol of youths with CP who obtain single event multi-level surgeries. Before and after these surgeries, 57 such youths aged 4.2–21.3 years were issued StepWatches to monitor daily activity for 8 day periods over 24 months duration. Weather data and walk scores for the patients’ home locations were collected from online databases. Steps per hour were predicted from clinical and environmental data using bootstrapped regression to determine the stability of regression coefficients and the percent variability explained by each variable. ResultsTime since surgery, age, season, GMFCS level, and surgical burden were significant variables in the model. Of them, GMFCS level was most important and explained nearly 16% of the variability in the data. Temperature, precipitation, and walk score had small effects on step count variance. SignificanceUnderstanding sources of variability in step-counts is important if such a measure is to be used as a clinical measure of recovery, and may be important in the consideration of future surgical planning.

The burden of femoral shaft fractures in Tanzania

BackgroundRoad traffic injuries disproportionately affect low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and are associated with femur fractures that lead to long-term disability. Information about these injuries is crucial for appropriate healthcare resource allocation. The purpose of this study is to estimate the incidence of femoral shaft fractures in Tanzania and describe the unmet surgical burden. MethodsStudy sites included six government hospitals across Tanzania. Investigators collected data from hospital admission and procedural logbooks to estimate femoral shaft fracture incidence and their treatment methods. Semi-quantitative interviews were conducted with relevant hospital personnel to validate estimates obtained from hospital records. Investigators gathered road traffic incident (RTI) statistics from national police reports and calculated femur fracture:RTI ratios. ResultsFemoral shaft fracture annual incidence rate ranged from 2.1 to 18.4 per 100,000 people. Median low and high femur fracture:RTI ratio were 0.54 and 0.73, respectively. At smaller hospitals, many patients (5–25%) were treated with traction, and a majority (70–90%) are referred to other centers. Barriers to surgery at each hospital include a lack of surgical implants, equipment, and personnel. ConclusionsThe incidence rate is similar to previous estimations, and it is consistent with an increased femoral shaft fracture incidence in Tanzania when compared to higher income countries. The femur fracture:RTI ratio may be a valid tool for estimating femur fracture incidence rates. There is an unmet orthopaedic surgical burden for femur fractures treatment at rural hospitals in Tanzania, and the barriers to treatment could be targets for future interventions.

The surgical burden of disease and perioperative mortality in patients admitted to hospitals in Victoria, Australia: a population-level observational study

ObjectivesComprehensive reporting of surgical disease burden and outcomes are vital components of resilient health systems but remain under-reported. The primary objective was to identify the Victorian surgical burden of disease...

Next Generation of Global Surgeons: Aligning Interest With Early Access to Global Surgery Education

BackgroundAlthough interest in global surgery is increasing among medical students,1 several questions remain unanswered such as: the association of demographics with said interest, the extent that global surgical burden education has been integrated into medical education, and the availability of global surgery electives. This study aimed to assess the current state of global surgery education in the United States (U.S.) to support recommendations for future curriculum development. Materials and methodsAn anonymous online survey was distributed to medical students currently enrolled in the U.S. Descriptive data were compiled regarding interest in and access to global surgery programs; demographic data were analyzed using chi-squared testing for categorical variables. ResultsA total of 754 students from 18 medical schools throughout the U.S. responded to the survey. Only complete responses were included in final analysis (n = 658). Most of the respondents (66%) reported interest in global surgery, with a higher proportion of those interested being in their preclinical years. However, the majority (79%) reported that global surgery issues are rarely or never addressed in their required curriculum. Over half of respondents were unaware of whether their school even offers such programs. ConclusionsAlthough interest in global surgery is on the rise among medical students, results suggest that many currently lack exposure to global surgery concepts in their medical education. To that end, early exposure may be most effective during the preclinical years, so that the next generation may align global surgery participation with clinical aspirations, with the ultimate goal of addressing global disparities.

Benefit of regional anaesthesia on postoperative pain following mastectomy: the influence of catastrophising

BackgroundPrevious studies suggest that truncal regional anaesthesia (TRA), including techniques such as paravertebral block, may contribute significantly to analgesia after mastectomy. However, the severity and impact of postoperative pain varies markedly amongst individuals, making the identification of patients who would benefit most from TRA a potentially important step toward personalised perioperative care. MethodsIn this prospective observational study, mastectomy patients (n=122) were recruited and systematically assessed for psychosocial characteristics including pain catastrophising before surgery, and either received preoperative TRA (n=57) or no block (n=65). ResultsAge, baseline pain, and psychosocial traits did not differ between these groups. TRA was associated with lower overall pain scores and opioid consumption perioperatively, with a larger proportion of patients without block (50% vs 28%) reporting moderate-severe pain (more than three/10) on the day of surgery. Mixed model analysis of variance revealed a significant interaction between catastrophising and TRA, such that amongst patients with high baseline catastrophising, TRA was associated with substantially lower pain severity score (58% lower), while amongst patients with low baseline catastrophising, TRA was associated with only 18% lower pain severity. At 2 weeks, this interaction between baseline catastrophising and TRA was also observed when examining surgical pain burden, with higher baseline catastrophising patients who had received TRA reporting lower pain and less frequent opioid use (40% vs 70% of patients). ConclusionsTRA provided immediate analgesic benefit for patients undergoing mastectomy on the day of surgery, but this effect appeared more pronounced and sustained amongst patients with higher baseline catastrophising. Clinical trial registrationNCT 02329574.

Wait lists and adult general surgery: is there a socioeconomic dimension in Canada?

BackgroundLittle is known about whether patients’ socioeconomic status influences their access to elective general surgery in Canada. The purpose of this study was to assess the association between socioeconomic status and wait times for elective general surgery.MethodsAnalysis of prospectively recruited participants’ data. The setting was six hospitals in the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, a geographically defined region that includes Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Participants had elective general surgery between October 2013 and April 2017, community dwelling, aged 19 years or older and could complete survey forms. The outcome measure was wait time, defined as the number of weeks between being registered for elective general surgery and surgery date.ResultsOne thousand three hundred twenty elective general surgery participants were included in the study. The response rate among eligible patients was 53%. Regression analyses found no statistically significant association between patients’ wait time with SES, adjusting for health status, cancer status, surgical priority level, comorbidity burden and demographic characteristics.Participants with proven or suspected cancer status had shorter waits relative to participants waiting for surgery for benign conditions. Participants with at least one comorbidity tended to experience shorter waits of approximately 5 weeks (p < 0.01). Pre-operative pain or depression/anxiety were not associated with shorter wait times.ConclusionsAlthough this study found no relationship between SES and surgical wait time for elective general surgeries in the study hospitals, patients in lower SES categories reported worse health when assigned to the surgical queue.

Clinical and Radiological Outcomes of Corrective Surgery on Adult Spinal Deformity Patients: Comparison of Short and Long Fusion.

Despite the accumulated knowledge of spinal alignment and clinical outcomes the full corrective surgery cannot be applied to all the deformity patients as it requires considerable surgical burden to the patients. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical and radiological outcomes of the patients who have received short and long fusion for ASD. A total of 21 patients who received surgical reconstructive spinal fusion procedures and were followed up for at least one year were retrospectively reviewed. Sixteen cases have received spinal corrective surgery that upper instrumented vertebrate (UIV) was thoracic level (group T), or 5 cases were with UIV in lumbar level (group L). Group L had shorter operation time, smaller intraoperative estimated blood loss, and shorter postoperative hospitalization days. Group T tends to improve more in the magnitude of VAS of lumbar pain compared to group L. Improvement of spinal alignment revealed the advantage of long fusion compared to short fusion, in Cobb angle, sagittal vertical axis (SVA), lumbar lordosis (LL), PI-LL C7 plum line (C7PL), and center sacral vertebral line (CSVL). Pelvic tilt (PT) did not differ between the groups. Disc lordosis was the most acquired in XLIF compared to TLIF and PLF and maintained one year. There were 9 adverse events, 3 cases of pulmonary embolism (PE), one case of delirium, and 6 cases of proximal junctional kyphosis. Current study elucidated that long fusion, UIV, is thoracic and can achieve better spinal alignment compared to short fusion, UIV, in lumbar. XLIF demonstrated strong ability to reconstruct the deformity on intervertebral space that is better to apply as much intervertebral space as possible. For the ASD patients with complications, short fusion can be one of the options.

El Manual Para el Pueblo (The Manual for the People): a pictorial aid for community health workers to identify surgical conditions

Abstract Background Access to safe, effective, and affordable surgical care is a pressing contemporary public health issue. Deaths from surgically treated conditions exceed those from HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria combined. Community outreach is a potential driver of access to surgical treatment, yet education among community health workers (CHWs) about such conditions is insufficient. Here, we describe the development and testing of a picture-based curriculum—El Manual Para el Pueblo (The Manual for the People)—to help CHWs to identify and refer surgical conditions in a largely illiterate population. Methods Central American rural multi-ethnic indigenous groups and surgical providers provided context-specific expertise and advice for the development of El Manual Para el Pueblo, established in 2017. During a pilot implementation in July, 2018, the Ministry of Education and a local community leader recruited groups of CHWs, parents in the communities, and groups of students from the Olancho department of Honduras. We assessed participants before and after the teaching programme for situational problem-solving. Participants completed quantitative surveys to measure the efficacy of an accompanying curriculum on the scheme and iconography of the manual; we also collected qualitative data from participants about the utility of the programme for their practice patterns. Findings The surgical manual includes 13 chapters with 133 different medical and surgical conditions represented. For the surveys, participants used three sample pages of the manual to answer the questions. We included 403 participants; 68% were women and mean age was 26 years. Overall, 245 participants (61%) had scores of 75% or more on the pre-intervention survey and 170 (42%) had scores of 85% or more. Manual understanding and utilisation abilities improved from pre-intervention mean score of 15·37 (SD 3·10) to 15·91 (3·09) post-intervention out of a maximum score of 20 (p Interpretation Surgical disease burden is one of the most pressing public health problems globally and there is an important opportunity to improve care for the 5 billion people who lack adequate access to surgical care. El Manual Para el Pueblo is one such tool. Our data suggest that this curriculum can be an effective educational tool for improving on-the-ground understanding of the triage of surgical and medical disease, as well as techniques for best use of the manual. Finally, our study reinforces the need to invest in education for local personnel when implementing similar interventions to achieve the maximum societal effects. Funding Operation Smile, Agnew Surgical Society at the Perelman School of Medicine.